
bAMUtL HARKIb 



Personal Reminiscences 



OF 



SAMUEL HARRIS 



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CHICAGO: 

The Rogerson Press 
1897 



Entered according to Act of Congress 
IN THE Year 1897, 

BY 

SAMUEL HARRIS 

In THE Office of the Librarian of Congress 

AT Washington. D. C. 



ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 



INTRODUCTORY 



This volume is written for the benefit 
of m}' children and their children, that 
the\' may know that one of their ancestors 
fought in the War of the Rebellion. It is 
written solely as my personal reminis- 
cences, and in no sense is it a histor}' of 
the war or of our Brigade, Regiment, or 
even of Compan\- A, and not even the 
name of any other person is given, other 
than those that are interwoven in the inci- 
dents related. I have given mostl}- the 
amusing incidents in prison life, and have 
given others onl\- where brutality or cus- 
sedness was show n by those in command. 
Samuel Harris. 



PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF 
SAMUEL HARRIS. 



I was born in the village of Hartford (one mile up 
White River from White River Junction), Vermont, 
on the 15th day of September, 1836. M\' father was 
Edward Pratt Harris, a native of Massachusetts. M)' 
mother was Elizabeth Sanborn Gillett, a native of 
Vermont M)- father graduated at Dartmouth College 
in the x^ear 1826. Afterwards he founded the academy 
at Bradford, Vt. He studied law, and was admitted to 
practice about the )ear 1832. He practiced law in 
White River Junction, Vt., until the spring of 1837, 
when he went west to find a home. 

He located in Rochester, Mich., and sent for my 
mother in the summer. She started from Vermont 
about the ist of September, and reached Detroit on a 
steamboat called the " Missouri " about the 20th of 
September, 1837. She arrived at Rochester the next 
day with ni)- brother, P^dward Wright Harris, who was 
then about seven \'ears old, and mNself, a little over 
one year old. 

P"ather and mother lived in Rochester until the 
year 1868, when father died, and soon after mother 
came to live with me in Washington, D. C M\' brother 
and myself were sent to the district schools until we 
were old enough to attend the acadeni}'. My health 



was not good, and I was not strong enough to attend 
school regular, so my education clici not get be\ond 
natural philosophy, geometry, and a few such studies. 
M} whole bent was mechanics. I loved tools, and 
loved to be at work with them. Steam engines were 
my favorites. Natural philosophy and geometr_\% and 
such other studies as would help me in mechanics, 
came eas\- to me. In these classes I was always at the 
head; in all others I was at the foot. When I was 
twelve years old I made a ver}^ good model of a steam 
engine of brass. The cxlinder was 2-inch stroke and 
y^ of an inch bore. I used this to drive a small lathe 
I made, and used to do sewing machine repairing and 
gun work. In the fall, after I was sixteen, I was study- 
ing steam and its various applications and modes of 
producing power from it. I believed that the whole 
power of steam was exerted in giving velocitx' to 
its particles. I then tested its power on a reaction 
wheel, but found I got but a small portion of the 
power caused by the great \elocity of steam over what 
would be safe to run the wheel at. I then placed 
another wheel with an over-hanging rim just outside 
the reaction wheel, with buckets on the inside of the 
rim. I gained as much power from the outer wheel 
as I had from the reaction wheel, and actually 
increased the power of the reaction wheel b)- having a 
solid for the steam to strike against. Soon after the 
war I patented the combination and called it " Harris' 
Rotar)' .Steam luigine." 

In the spring, after I was sixteen years old, my 
father consented to my going to White River Junction, 



\ t., and go into the shops of A. Latham & Co. to learn 
the trade of machinist in their locomotive works. After 
working there about one year the compan\- failed. I 
then returned home, and in the summer went to Mich- 
igan Cit\', Ind., to work in the repair shops of the 
Michigan Central Railroad. After living there about 
six months I was sent to Chicago b}' the superintendent 
of that di\ision of the road to ride on the engine, so as 
to be with the engineer in case of an accident. The 
engine, named the " Bald Eagle," was a very old ond 
and ver}- badl\- out of repair. We reached Chicago 
without an accident, but on our way back, in rounding 
a curve, the engine swung so heavy that she ripped off 
the flange from her driving wheel, and all four dri\'ing 
wheels left the track and ran along on the ties. We 
were going about sixt\- miles an hour, and had eleven 
passenger coaches all loaded behind us. The engineer 
was so scared that he forgot to shut off the steam, and 
left his post and ran to the front of the engine where 
he could jump with less risk. I jumped to his place 
and shut off the steam, brought the reverse lever to the 
center, and blew the whistle for breaks, and soon 
brought the train to a stop, none too soon, as we were 
just going on to a trestle. I was not injured to an}' 
great extent, but was bruised quite badl\- by being 
thrown against the levers. The shock and bruising I 
received laid me up for several daxs. 

When I was able to be out I left Michigan Cit\', 
and went to Milwaukee, Wis., to work in the Menomi- 
nee Locomotive Works, but I soon found I was injured 
more b}- the accident than I had thought, and was com- 



pelled to give up m\- job and return home to Rochester, 
Mich., to recuperate. 

Early in the spring I went back to Milwaukee and 
soon had a position as engineer on a railroad then 
called the Milwaukee & La Crosse Railroad. I ran 
engine No. 20 for about four months. While here, 
John P. Led)'ard, who was going to be master mechanic 
of the Pennsylvania railroad at Altoona, came to me 
and wanted I should go with him as his assistant. I 
considered this quite an honor, as Mr. Led\'ard was 
superintendent of the locomotive works at White River 
Junction, Vt., where I served part of my apprentice- 
ship. I declined the offer as I intencied to quit rail- 
roading that fall and go home and start some kind of a 
factory. 

About the first of August a circumstance happened 
that caused me to leave railroading lome months be- 
fore I had intended to. (3ne evening after making m}- 
usual run to P'ond-du-Lac function and return, I ran 
my engine on a side track near the depot and left it for 
the hostler to run up to the round-house, I went to 
bed about nine o'clock as I was very tired. Soon after- 
wards my room-mate came up very much excited, say- 
ing 1 had been discharged by order of the general 
superintendent. I asked him if he knew the cause, 
lie asked mc if I had run my engine up to the round- 
house that evening. 1 told him no, that I hid left 
it on side track. He then told mc that some one had 
run No. 20 up, and when al:)Out half way had met two 
ladies coming down town dressed to make an evening 
call. In passing by the ladies he had opened a small 




SAMUEL HARRIS 



valve on the pump and thrown muddy and greas)' water 
all over them. The husband of one of the ladies owned 
a large grist mill about a block from the depot. They 
went directl}' to him, and he found Mr. Goodrich, the 
superintendent, ani made complaint to him. He also 
demanded that the person who did it should be dis- 
charged Mr. Goodrich jumped at the conclusion that 
it was me, and sent one of his clerks to tell me that I 
was discharged. 

The next morning I went to the treasurer, Mr. 
Jennings, and received my pa}- for time up to that day 
I then told him that I knew nothing of the affair, and 
that I did not ran the engine up the evening before. 
He said by all means to go to Mr. Goodrich and tell 
him the facts. I declined to do so. I then went to the 
miller and told him the facts of the case, and that I 
had been discharged to shield the master mechanic of 
the road who had run my engine up the previous even- 
ing, and being half drunk, had committed the mean act 
for which I received the blame. 

The miller went immediately to Mr. Goodrich and 
demanded that I be given back my engine and that the 
master mechanic be discharged. I again declined to 
take my engine back. This ended my railroading. 

I then returned home to Rochester and started a 
small foundr}' and machine shop. This was in the fall 
of 1856. On May 28th, 1858, I married Sarah H. Rich- 
ardson, whom I had known from childhood. )une loth, 
1860, our first child was born. We named her Frances. 
She lived to be twenty-two months old. She was taken 



with scarlet fever, and died April gth, 1862. It was a 
hard blow to us, and to my father and mother. 

I continued to carry- on my shop, making barel}- a 
Hving, until about the first of August, 1862, when one 
da}' Capt. Gray, who had been an officer in the First 
Michigan Cavalry, came to my shop and wanted me to 
go with him to raise a company In the Fifth Michigan 
Cavalr}'. then being organized b}' Col Copeland. Capt. 
Gray promised me the position of first lieutenant in his 
company. 

I left the next morning for Pontiac, where the 
county fair was being held, thinking that would be the 
best place to get men to join our company. In this I 
was successful, as the second day I took into Detroit 
one hundred and seventeen men with me. We were 
sent out Jefferson Avenue, about four miles, to camp 
on an old corn field with nothing to shelter us. The 
next day tents were sent to us. The second day after 
we arrived at the camp grounds, a large amount of 
lumber was sent to us to build a large barrack. I was 
the only officer on the ground, and after finding out 
from the post-quartermaster what kind of a building he 
wanted put up, I took charge of it, and setting m\' men 
to work, soon had a barrack large enough to hold all 
the men of the regiment. 

I had been in camp but a few da\s when I was 
presented with a very nice dark-brown horse, a present 
from my old friends in Rochester. It was a ver\- 
acce])table present, and 1 was very thankful to the 
people of m\- town for their kind remembrance of me. 
The horse proved to be one of the best in the cavalry 



corps. He could and did outrun ever}' horse matched 
against him on a one-quarter mile course. There was 
a man in my company who was a regular horse jockey. 
Capt. Gray bragged how his horse could beat mine. I 
told m}' orderly to beat him, and he did it handsomely, 
winning quite a sum of money from the captain, which 
made him very mad. After winning in ever)' race he 
ran, the horse became well-known in the cavalr\' corps. 
Finally, Maj.-Gen. Kilpatrick sent down a verv bom- 
bastic challenge. I told the jockey to take him up and 
beat the general's horse, but to be sure and not run him 
over a quarter of a mile. He did beat him, and won 
quite a sum of mone)-. The general was mad to think 
his blooded horse could be beat by a scrub, as he called 
my horse. 

One afternoon just before dress parade, the boys 
of m\- compan\- (A) assembled in front of the tent, and 
calling me out, in a ver}' neat speech from one of them, 
presented me with a very handsome sabre and belt. I 
replied the best I could, and thanked them very much 
for the compliment. I have the sabre >'er, and keep it 
as a memento of the love and respect the bo\-s had for 
me then, and which they continue to ha\-e to this daw 
I meet with quite a number of them in an annual reunion 
in some town in the eastern part of Michigan. It is 
needless to si)' that each one is a glad reunion. 

We were kept in camp at Detroit until December, 
1862, drilling and getting fully equipped for the field. 
In December we were ordered to Washington. I being 
second lieutenant of company A, was ordered to take 
command of the first detachment of horses, consisting 



of the first four companies, and about ten men from 
each compan\' to take care of them. We made the 
trip to Washington without accident or incident of note. 
We arrived at Washington on the evening of the gth. 
There had been no provisions made for m\' men or 
horses. It was a bitter cold night and we suffered a 
good deal. I took the best care of men and horses 
that was possible under the circumstances. 

The next morning I received an order to take my 
command out on Capitol Hill, about two miles from 
the Capitol, and about one mile from Rennings Bridge. 
When I reached the place, there was no rations for men 
or horses, no wood to keep us warm, or tents to shelter 
us from the cold wintry night. 

Across a wide ravine on a side hill was camped the 
i/th Pennsylvania Cavalr}'. Very soon some of the men 
from that regiment came over to see who we were. We 
soon informed them that we were hungr}' and had noth- 
ing to eat. They ran back to their comrades and told 
them the fi.x we were in. With a whoop and a yell 
every man in the 17th, not on actual duty, grabbed some 
bread or hard-tack, wood or ha\', and came on the dead 
run over to our camp. Some made great kettles of 
coffee and brought it over to us. Soon we had a good 
warm supper, sitting about camp fires. Our horses 
were not forgotten, thanks to the big-hearted boys of 
the 17th Pennsylvania Cavalry. Our boys never forgot 
the kindness. If we ever came near them we always 
gave them three heart)- cheers. A tew days alter this, 
the balance of the regiment with their horses and bag- 
gage arrived, and we went into camp on the ground 



where I first located. We were camped here until 
spring, most of the time drilling. While here, Col. 
Copelandwas promoteci to brigadier general, and Lieut. 
Col. Freeman Nor\al was promoted to colonel. Soon 
after this the first lieutenant of our company resigned, 
and Col. Norval promoted me from second lieutenant 
to first lieutenant. When the first lieutenant resigned, 
Capt. Gra\' of our compan\' went to Col. Norval and 
urged him to appoint a sergeant in the company as first 
lieutenant over me, and even went so far as to offer him 
four hundred dollars if he would do so. This made 
Col. Norval ver}- angry, and he told Capt. Gray that 
money could not buy a promotion in his regiment The 
guard at Col. Norval's tent was from my compan\', and 
a particular friend of mine. As soon as he was off dut)- 
he came to m\' tent and told me of the conversation 
between Col. Norval and Capt. Gra)'. The next day at 
at dress parade my promotion was read before the 
regiment. 

Early in the spring we were sent out on a raid to 
Ashby's Gap b\- wa}- of Leesburg, Aldie, Middleberg, 
Upperville, and Paris, which is within about a mile of 
the Gap. As we neared Paris, I was placed in com- 
mand of the advance. Lieut. Geo. N. Dutcher had 
command of the advanced guard. He was a short dis- 
tance ahead of me. As he entered Paris he was fired 
on by men in the houses. He held his own until 1 
came to his assistance with my command, when we 
drove the rebels and bushwackcrs out of the houses and 
up the mountain. Lieut. Dutcher was wounded by 
being shot through his hand. I bound it up with my 



handkerchief, and sent him back to our surgeon, and 
took command of his men, and called in the flankers 
and was prepared for any move I might be ordered to 
make. In a short time I was ordered to fall back. This 
was the first skirmish I was in and the first time I ever 
heard rebel bullets whiz b}' my head. I never w^as in 
love with mosquitoes, but I must say I would rather 
hear them sing an\- time than to hear a rebel bullet sing 
about ni}' ears. 

We marched about ten miles toward Washington 
and camped on a farm owned b\" Gen. Asa Rogers. 
Gen. Rogers knew that I was an officer in the com- 
mand, and he said that he knew that I was a son of 
Betsy Gillett M}' mother before she was married 
went to Middleberg and taught a select school for 
three years. Most of her pupils were relatives of the 
Rogers. Gen. Rogers asked me to see that a guard 
was placed over his house and their provisions. I 
went to Lieut Col. Gould, who was in command, and 
stated the case to him, and he ordered a guard about 
the house and smoke-house. I was invited to supper 
and spent a very pleasant evening with the family. 

The next morning we were off earh' on our return 
to Washington. When we were near Middleberg the 
column was halted, our company being in the rear, 
we were ordered to pass the rest of the regiment and 
to take the advance. When we reached the head of 
the column we found ourselves on the top of a small 
hill at ihe foot of \\hich ran a creek at about right 
angle to the road we were on. On the further side of 
the creek was a road. The captain that had the 



advance when he came out on the brow of the hill saw 
about twenty-five or thirty of Moseb\'s men going 
along on this cross roacl, the middle of their column 
being about on the road we were traveling. 

He halted his men and sent back word to Lieut. 
Col. Gould, saying there were rebels ahead. What 
shall I do? What he ought to have done was to dash 
ahead and capture all the rebels he could. He ought to 
have been soldier enough to know that the rest of the 
regiment would have come to his support immediately. 
When Capt. Gra\- came to the brow of the hill the 
rebels had full a quarter of a mile the start of us, but 
we immediatel}' started in pursuit. We soon over- 
hauled part of them who we made prisoners. Among 
the rest was a quarter-master with a big chest full of 
money. I got hold of several thousand dollars of 
Confederate bills, and after placing one of each 
denomination in m}- side pocket, I distributed the 
rest among the children as we passed through Middle- 
berg. This quarter-master hid in a straw stack. Our 
boys knew how to bring him out — by running their 
sabres in up to the hilt. The captain who did not 
know what to do when he saw a few rebels ahead, 
resigned when he got back to Washington. 

The above incident had detained us about two 
hours. We went on to Aldie and halted to feed the 
horses and get our dinner. In the afternoon we 
resumed the march, passing through Fairfa.x, and 
beyond about two miles, svhere we camped for the night. 
We being on the march had no tents or shelter of any 
kind. In the night it snowed ver\' hard. It was a 



hard night for us, not being used to such hardships. 
We had in our compan\- a man that was a notorious 
coward. Several of the boys put up a job on him. 
One of the corporals came to me and asked the 
privilege of claiming to detail this man as a guard, and 
to make him believe that it was a very dangerous post. 
I gave my consent, provided the}' would place him 
somewhere so he could do no harm, for I was actuall}' 
afraid he would be so scared that he would shoot some- 
bod)-. The man actually cried like a baby I got rid 
of him from the company soon after that. Earh- the 
next morning a sutler came out to our camp from one 
of the forts near Washington. As soon as I found it 
out I went to his wagon and saw that he was trying to 
rob the bo\s. I immediately left and gave the wink- 
to some of the boys. They went for his pies and 
cakes. In a ver}' short time there were no pies, cakes 
or boys to be found an)-where about. Some of the 
staff officers were going to raise Cain about it, but 
the}' could not find an officer or man that had been 
within a mile of the sutlers. That evening we reached 
our old camp in Washington, a ver}' sad and tired lot 
of men, but much wiser in campaigning 

We spent some weeks in drilling by compan}' and 
b}' regiment. Soon after we were ordered out on a 
wild goose chase after Stuart, who was said to be some- 
where in the rear of our arm}-. There was a force of 
cavalr}' of about 5,000 sent out to find him, and likel}' 
the orders were to fight him, but \'er}' iniiortunatel}' 
we were under the command of a big bag of wind, 
calling himself ticn. Sir Perc\' Windham. We had a 



ver\' hard march, but ch'cl not see a rebel. My own 
opinion was that if we were getting too close to them, 
we were halted long enough to let them get out of the 
wa\'. We were gone about ten or twelve days, when 
we returned to our old camp on Capitol Hill. We 
here spent a few weeks drilling the men and horses. 

Earl}' in the spring we were ordered out on picket 
dut)-, on what was called "The Law\'ers' Road," in 
compan\- with the Sixth Michigan Cavalr}-. Both 
regiments being under command of Col. Geo. Gra}- of 
the Sixth The most of our dut}- was to guard against 
raids b\' Mosebw We had the usual hardships and 
pleasures of picket dutw We were kept there until 
about the middle of June During our sta)' a ver\- 
\oung man, with long flaxen hair, came to our camji 
and staid several da}'s with us, trying to get our ofificers 
to petition Gov. Austin Blair to appoint him as Colonel 
of our regiment, but we all declined to sign such a 
petition as we considered him too }'Oung. His name 
was Geo. A. Custer. About the first of June I had 
command of about two miles of the line on the 
" LawNcrs Road." I had m\' camp in a beautiful grove 
of pine trees. The limbs of the trees were high enough 
so we could ride under them. A very clear stream of 
water ran by the camp. It was an ideal spot. One 
beautiful evening I sat b\- the camp fire musing and 
thinking of home, when Sergeant Wood came up to 
me and said, " Lieutenant, I want to take six men and 
go outside the lines on a foraging expedition." I told 
him it would not do, as it was against orders, and if 
found out I would be cashiered. He ureed so hard 



I finalh' let him s^o. They were gone until about niid- 
nii^ht. I bet^an to be afraid they had got into trouble, 
when all at once I heard a cheer a short waws ot^, and 
soon Sergeant Wood and all of his men came into 
camp loaded down with plunder. Wood had a hive of 
bees wrapped in his blanket ; another a pig. All had 
a load. Wood sat his bees down near the fire, and 
soon the\' were warmed up and began to f\y about and 
sting the men and horses. I called to the men to run 
the horses out of the way. But the wa\- the bo\s went 
for the honey. Almost everyone was stung some- 
where. The next morning 1 had a fine lot of boys to 
put out on picket. Some with one e\e closed, some 
with both. One was stung in the mouth. Yc:t tor all 
that the bo\s had a pile of fun out ot it. In a tew 
da\s we returned to camp. 

1 was almost immediatel)' ordered to take my com- 
pan\' and take command of the picket line on the 
extreme right and well out towards F^airfax court 
house. I soon found that there had been several pick- 
ets shot by bushwackers creeping up and shooting 
them with a double barrel shot gun. While they sel- 
dom killed a picket, they would be ver\- badly wounded 
with the shot. I instructed the men to fire at the least 
noise in the bushes. I examined the line very carefulK' 
the first clay, and at night posted three men on each 
exposed place, they to relieve each other during the 
night. I had no trouble on the line. The second da\' 
in riding the line, about two o'clock, I came to the 
extreme left picket. As I rode up he called m}- atten- 
tion to some horsemen in the woods, about three quar- 



ters of a niile outside our lines. I directed him to ride 
back into the pine staddles, and hitch his horse and to 
select a ^^ood spot where he could get a rest for his 
gun, and to watch close, and if an)' of them came out in 
sight to give him a shot. Ver\' soon one of them rode 
up behind an old log house, a short distance from the 
woods. The first we saw was his horse's head sticking 
out from one corner of the house. Then we saw the 
man's head. The picket took good aim at him and 
fired. The ball struck the corner of one of the logs 
and knocked off a lot of bark not over two feet from 
his head. It was fun to see the jump his horse made. 
They sprang clear of the house, but wheeling about got 
behind its friendl\- ]).'otection and made for the woods 
as fast as possible. Keeping behind the house we did 
not see him again until he was going into the woods. 
The)- all rode off, keeping well under cover. That 
afternoon it became necessary for me to communicate 
with the officer commanding the line on my left, 1 
found that his line bent to the north in the form of the 
letter U. In order to skirt aroiuul the edge of a large 
swamp, I chose to go directl)' across by an old road 1 
well knew. I reached his camp in due time. I staid 
there until dusk and started back, taking the same path. 
1 was mounted on IViWy (the horse presented to me) 
and knew he would carry me safely back if any horse 
in the arm)' could. 1 started at a good gallop, leaning- 
well forward over his neck to keep the branches from 
knocking m\ hat off. In rounding a bend in the road 
1 came out suddenl)- on the swamp. Al)- horse stopi)ed 
and reared up. 1 looked oxer the swamp ami it looked 



as though it was covered with camp fires. I pulled m}- 
revolver; my hair stood straight up I am sure. At a 
second glance I saw it was punk, or dead stumps and 
logs scattered over the whole swamp like an irregular 
camp fire. I patted my horse on the head and said, 
" Billy, it's all right." He concluded there was no rebs 
there and started on at a good trot, but he kept his 
head turned that wa)', with his e\es like two big balls 
of fire. When we had passed the swamp he gave his 
head a big shake and started on the run, and soon 
landed me safely in camp. 

While on this post one of our scouts came with an 
order from headquarters for me to take twentN'-five 
men and go with the scout about ten miles outside our 
lines to get his wife, who was acting as a spy for us. 
I took a lead horse with us for her to ride. As we 
neared the house she saw us and came out on the porch 
waiting for us. We rode up and had the lead horse 
brought up by the side of the steps. She sprang into 
the saddle with ease. I directed the scout to take the 
lead and to go the shortest wa\' back to our lines. 
Awa)' he went with his wife by his side over fields, 
fences, antl ditches. Two or three times I had to call 
to them to hold up, in order to let ni}- men close up 
with us, as ])art of them were not used to jumping 
fences and would get left too far behind. The scout 
and his wife were very an.xious to get inside our lines, 
out ot reach (jf Moscb)-, or an\' other rebel rangers. 
Wc reached camj) all safe and sound. 1 had more 
than my share of such dut\- to do, as 1 was well 
acquainted with a number of the scouts, and the)' all 



wanted me to put them through the rebel lines and to 
bring them back into our lines. 

After being fi\e da}'s on this post I was relieved, 
and returned to camp with my companw We had a 
ver}' short stay there when I was ordered b\- Col. Gra\- 
(colonel of the Sixth Michigan Cavalr_\-, who com- 
manded the Fifth and Sixth. The Fifth was under the 
immediate command of Lieut. -Col. Gould) to take ni}' 
compan\' and picket the post on the road from Alex- 
andria to Fairfax court house. The second da}' that I 
was on this post, an officer was sent b)- Col. Gray to 
relieve me, and gave me an order to report to Col. Gra\- 
in person. When I reached camp Col. Gra\' asked me if 
1 had allowed an}- person to pass ni}- post. I said I had 
let one farmer who had a pass. He asked if the officer 
whom I relieved did not turn over orders to me not to 
let an}-one pass the post, no matter from whom he had 
a pass. I told him no such orders had been given me. 
He said such orders should have been given me, then 
I was not to blame. He said he would leave it for Col. 
Alger to settle, as Lieut. -Col. Alger, of his regiment, 
had been appointed colonel of our regiment, and would 
take command the next da}'. This left me in a \cr} 
peculiar position. 1 was virtuall}' depri\ed of ni}- com- 
mand, }'et not under arrest, and no charges preferred 
against me. I acted under the advice of Lieut. -Col. 
Gould. He said I hatl done more than m\' share ot 
work, and that 1 could afford to la}' still if the colonel 
could afford to let me. So I kept still until (jii the field 
of Gett\'sbur</. 



81 



Vcr\' soon after this \vc were ordered to break up 
eamp and to send all surplus stores and baggage to the 
Quarter- master in Washington, and for our regimcMit 
to report to Gen. Hooker, in command of the Army of 
the Potomac, for duty. The bo\s were wild with jow 
The}' were tired of camp and picket dut\- and wanted 
more acti\e work. They got all they wanted during 
the next few weeks, as the following pages will show. 

I cannot give a better description of what I saw 
during the (lettwsburg campaign than to insert in tuU 
an article I wrote a;id read before a reunion of old 
Compan\- A and endorsed by all who heard it ; also 
b\- one member of the First Michigan Cavalry who 
was in the charge, and cut during the charge. All 
endorsed the engraving as being as perfect as coidd be 
put on paper. 

This engra\'ing is a cop\- of a large painting made 
from a sketch soon after the battle. 

In the engraving the Fifth Michigan Ca\alr\' is 
drawn back from its position on tin- left in ortler to 
show the charge of Ilam])ton's ]5rigade and the hirst 
Michigan C'a\alr\-. 



as 



^pm 










1^ 



MICHIGAN BRIGADE OF CAVALRY 

AT THE 

BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG, 

July 3, 1863, 

under command of 

BRIG.-GEN. GEO. A. CUSTER. 



Ilistor)- is said to be true, but I can sa\ without 
fear, that as written, it has scarcely a semblance of 
truth so far as it relates to the part that the Michigan 
Brigade of Cavalr)- and the four regiments composing 
this brigade, took in the battle of Gettysburg ; also of 
the important part pla\ed by the Fifth and .Sixth 
Michigan Cavalr\- before the battle. 

I will begin back a few da\'s or even weeks before 
the battle and give the movements of the Fifth. 

We were camped on what was called the Law\ers' 
Road, doing picket dut)- with the .Si.xth, both regi- 
ments being under the command of Col. Cieorge Gra\-, 
of the Si.xth. 

The Fifth Michigan was commanded b\ Lieut. Col. 
Ebenezer Gould. 

About the ist of June, a slim young man with 
almost flaxen hair, looking more like a big boy, came 
to us and, as the line officers exprt'ssed it, with tin; 

23 



cheek of a government mule, actually asked us to sign 
a petition to Gov. Austin Blair to appoint him as 
Colonel of the Fifth. 

He said his name was George A. Custer, and that 
he was a West Pointer. 

No petition was sent. 

A short time after this, the Lieutenant-Colonel 
of the Sixth, R. A. Alger, was made Colonel of our 
regiment. 

About the 20th of June we were ordered to break 
up camp and marched all that day and night toward 
the rear of our army. 

Finally we camped in a swamp, and stayed here 
about two days. 

At this time a messenger reached us with orders 
to join the ami)' as soon as possible, telling us that we 
were nearh' surrounded, and that only with great 
celerit}' in our movements would be escape capture. 

For once there were no stragglers. F\er\' man 
wanted to be in the front. 

A few hours of hard marching took us out of 
danger and into our lines. 

About four o'clock in the afternoon we passed the 
heatlquarters of General Hooker, who stood in front 
of his tent, near the road, as we passed by — the most 
perfect picture of a man and soldier that I ever saw. 

( )n w I' jnislud toward the Upper Potomac Ri\er, 
which we crossed at hxlwards l-'\)rd on Thurstlay, the 
25th of June. 

We reachetl I'rederick, Md., about tour ]>. m.. 
]^'ricla\-, the 26tli. 



There we halted for the ni«-ht, and such a nig-ht ■ 

lightning, thunder, rain, and wind vied with each other. 

We were up and had our breakfast before day; by 
sunrise we were on the march, almost directly north. 

That night, .Saturday, we camped at Emmets- 
burg, ^Id. 

Sunda}' morning, the 28th of June, we were up 
earlw and after a field breakfast we started for Gett\'s- 
burg, which we reached about one o'clock p. m., just 
after the churches were dismissed. 

The people of Gett}-sburg were overjoyed to see us, 
as Gen. Jubal Early, who left as we came in, had laid a 
lieav}' tribute on the town, sa\ing that if it was not 
prompth' paid he would burn it that night. 

Gen. Joseph T. Copeland was in command of our 
forces, and made his headquarters at the City Hotel, 
built on the scjuare. 

The Fifth and .Sixth were mostly divided up in 
companies and each compan\- sent to different parts of 
the town, and some well out on each road. 

All officers were ordered to keep a hea\\- picket to- 
guard against an}' possible surprise. 

General Copeland well knew that he was right in 
the midst of the rebel forces. 

Company A, Fifth Michigan Cavalr\-, of which I 
was first lieutenant, was posted in the outskirts of the 
tow n on what is called the York Pike Road. 

Here we la\- until about three o'clock Monda)' 
morning, when the bugle sounded to horse. 

.Sunda)' afternoon, towards evening, a detachment 
from my company captured an officer and a few men 



S.5 



who were carryin<^ dispatches from General Earl}- to 
General Lee. 

Another detachment from the command captured 
an officer and several men on the Chambersburg road 
who were bringing dispatches from General Lee to 
General Early, ordering him to hold Gettysburg, as he 
had given orders for his arm)' to concentrate there. 

These dispatches were immediatel)- sent to General 
Stahl, commanding our division of ca\alry. 

It was said that General Meade received these 
dispatches before da)'light on Mondax' morning (the 
truth of which I have no reason to doubt). 

I have stated the above facts rather minutel\', as 
much has been said and written on the subject — "Was 
Gettysburg a .Surprise to General Meade?" — and 1 wish 
to sa\' positive!}' it was not a surprise. 

Monda}' morning, after eating a hearty breakfast 
(most of it cooked by the good ladies of Gettysburg, 
who, without doubt, had been up nearl}' all night cook- 
ing for us), we mounted our horses, a little after sun- 
rise, and went back the same road we had come to 
Emmetsburg. 

I shall never forget the good lad_\' of the celebrated 
Cardovi House, for as we passed b\', I rode up to the 
door and asked for a drink of water. She said to me 
that if I would come in she would give me something 
better than w ater. 

She brought out a bottle and large tumbler, saying 
it was pure old blackberry wine, anci she knew it was 
good for she made it. .She poured out a timiblerful. 1 



don't think an\ old soldier will .sa\- that 1 was foolish 
enough to leave an\- part of it. 

I stood there a moment chatting with her and her 
two lovely daughters, when she filled up the glass to 
the brim again. I drank this, and bidding them good- 
day, joined m}- command. 

As we rode by the Round Tops, I thought what a 
place to take and hold till the rest of the army could 
come up, but on we went till we reached Emmetsburg. 

Here we halted for dinner and to feed. 

About two o'clock p. m. we are again on the 
march, and as we were rounding the base of Carricks 
Knob, we came upon the head of the column of the 
First Corps of Infantry with General Reynolds and 
staff at the head. 

We immediately pulled out of the road to the left. 

General Copeland and staff halted, as also did 
General Reynolds, and General Copeland told him 
what he had found out in Gettysburg. 

General Reynolds turned in his saddle and called 
out in a loud voice: " Bo)s, }ou must get those heights 
quick," pointing to the Emmetsburg heights, "there 
are rebels ahead." 

It acted like a charm on the wear)- and fagged out 
boys. 

I could hear the words " rebels ahead " go back 
down the line, it seemed to me for miles. 

I now turned m\- horse to follow the regiment, 
which together with the .Si.xth had turned to the left 
and gone toward Eittletown. 



27 



At this moment a flaxen-haired bo\- rode up to me 
and asked where the Michigan Brigade of Cavalr)- was. 

It was the same bo_\- who less than two months 
before had asked our officers to sign a petition to have 
him appointed colonel of our regiment. 

My eye caught the star on his shoulder, and 1 knew 
he was a full-fledged brigaciier general. 

It was George A. Custer. 

I followed him to camp and found that he took 
command of the Michigan Cavalry Brigade, composed 
of the First, Fifth, Sixth, and .Seventh Regiments. 

1 will pass b}' the smaller fights with Stuart's 
Cavalr\- in the small towns to the right of Gett\'sburg, 
in each of which our brigade was victorious, and give 
what I saw of the fight on the 3d of Jul)' between our 
brigade and the much larger force of Stuart's Cavalr)' 
in their determined effort to break through our lines 
and get to our trains. 

The night of lul\- 2, we la\' at Two Ta\-erns; earl\- 
in the morning General Custer receixed orders to close 
up on the right of our arm) . 

We arrived at or near Powers Hill, on the Balti- 
more pike, at about ten a. m. on the 3rd. 

General Custer then received orders to counter- 
march, which we did at a trot for about two miles, 
when u'c came to Rummel's farm; here we threw down 
the fences and rode b\- his house into the fields be)ond. 

The rebels had run out six guns on a small rise in 
the ground, about three-fourths of a mile from where 
we were, and with these guns the)- began shelling our 
ic'giment, when (ieneral Custer ordered us off to the 



right and to dismount and take position behind a rail 
fence, about a quarter of a mile in front of the rebel 
guns. 

Just as we were ordered off to the right and front, 
Lieut. Pennington came up with four guns of batter)' 
M, of the Second Regulars, and took position where 
our regiment had stood, and opened fire on the rebel 
battery. 

Just at this time I heard that Gen. Custer had sent 
an order to Col. Alger to send him an of^cer to act on 
his staff during the battle. I saw our adjutant a short 
wa}' off, and rode to him and asked to have him detail 
me for the dut\'. He went over with me to where Col. 
Alger was, and asked the privilege of detailing Lieut. 
Harris to act as staff officer to Gen. Custer. Col. Alger 
said "No; he is under arrest." To say that I was dis- 
appointed and disgusted would be putting it \-er\- 
mildly. I saw Lieut. -Col. Gould riding across the field 
to my right, with his orderly. I rode over to him and 
stated what had passed between Col. Alger, the adju- 
tant, and myself. His answer to me was: "Lieut. 
Harris, if the colonel don't want )'our assistance I do," 
and said that Col. Alger had ordered him to take com- 
mand of the lead horses, and he, Gould, ordered me to 
stay mounted and to help him. 

I looked at Col. Gould and said that it was a ver)' 
queer order for a commanding officer to detach the next 
in command on the eve of a great battle. Cjould's 
answer to me was: "Nevertheless, it is so." 

I told him he would not want me for a few min- 
utes, that Lieut. Pennington had asked me to sta}- with 



him and that I ought to notify him, so that he could 
get some other officer to help him. 

I rode to our battery, and passing the rear of the 
guns found Lieut. Pennington sitting on his horse, 
about six feet to the left of his left gun. 

I rode up on his left close to him. 

He turned and saw who it was, said I am glad you 
have come, and remarked that it was rather warm. 

At this moment he called out "jump." He rolled 
off his horse on the right. I rolled off m\- horse on 
the left. A shell passed by us and buried itself in the 
ground about thirty feet in the rear of our horses. 
Instantly wc were both back on our horses, Pennington 
remarking, " It was rather a close call for one of us." 
(A shell or cannon ball coming directly towards you 
can be seen very distinctl\'.) 

I turned m\' horse and started towards where the 
shell had buried itself in the ground, Lieut. Penning- 
ton called to me and said, " Where are you going?" I 
answered "I am going to get that shell and send it 
home." He said, " You come away from it and let it 
alone, it ma>- explode and kill \-ou." I reluctantly left 
it buried in the ground. Hut I intend to go back there 
and get it if possible, and keej) it as a memento of that 
battle. 

Soon after this about 1,500 rebels, dismounted, 
came out of the woods to the right of their guns and 
formed for a charge on the Fifth, who were posted 
behind a rail fence with .Spencer's seven-shooting rifles. 

Down the hill they came in perfect time. 

Soon the order was given to charge. 



ao 



On the}' came with perfect confidence of success. 

Our boN's held their fire until the rebs got within 
less than twentv rods, then they opened on them. 

After the first voile}- the rebel officers called o ut 
"Now for them before the}' can reload." 

But our bo}'s did not have to stop to reload their 
Spencers, but gave them a second, third, and a fourth 
voile}'. 

Man}' a reb fell, either dead or wounded; the rest 
were unable to stand the rain of lead and the most of 
them got back faster than they came. 

Our bo}'S called out to those nearest to come in or 
we will shoot; about one hundred did come in. 

One tall, lean, lank Johnn}', after he came in, asked 
to see our guns, saying: " You'ns load in the morning 
and fire all da}." 

While this charge was being made Lieut. Penning- 
ton called out to the sergeant in charge of the second 
gun from him, in quite forcible language, to tr}- to dis- 
mount one of the rebel guns. 

The answer came quickl}' "I will tr};" almost 
instantly bang went his gun, the shell actualh' entered 
the muzzle of the rebel gun and exploded, not onl}' 
tearing off a piece of the muzzle but dismounting the 
gun. 

Pennington called out: "Well done, now tr}' that 
left gun." 

Bang went his gun again, using a percussion shell. 
It struck the hub of the left wheel and exploded, dis- 
abling the gun and, as Pennington expressed it, sent 
six of the rebel gunners to the happ}' hunting grounds 



At this time a large force of rebels came out of the 
woods, dismounted, to make another charge on the 
Fifth Michigan Cavalry 

The)' formed in the same place as before, onl)- a 
much larger force. 

The\- outnumbered our boys of the Fifth at least 
four to one, but our bo\s had perfect confidence in 
their Spencers. 

On the rebels came, but not with the same con- 
fident \'ell as before, for the\' had great respect for the 
Spencers when in the hands of Michigan bo\'s. 

Our boys held their own and kept the rebs at a 
respectful distance as long as their cartridges held out. 

At this moment Col. Gould came riding toward me 
and said that Col. Alger had just sent him word that 
the boys were getting out of ammunition and gave me 
orders to find Quarter- Master Thurber and have a 
wagon of ammunition brought up immediatel\'. 

He pointed toward the Round Tops, saying that 
1 would find him on the pike. 

1 rode there as fast as possible, but did not find 
him, as the train had been moved two or three miles 
farther back. 

I returned to the regiment, and reached my com- 
pany just as the bo)-s had fired their last round of cart- 
ridges and had broke and ran for their horses. 

The most of the men ran to the right, and reached 
their horses; about twenty who were on the left of the 
line ran for a small patch of timber, to the left and rear 
of them. 

The rebels were shelling the woods quite li\'ely. 1 



rode in and called to the boys to follow me. I started 
them all on the way to the rear of the Sixth, who were 
posted in company front, about twent\- rods to the left 
and rear of Lieut. Pennington's batterw 

Just as I was going out of the woods, one of m\- 
men called to me, saying: " Here is one of the bo}'S all 
used up." He was partiall)- sunstruck. I called to the 
boys to help get him on his feet. Had them throw his 
right arm over m\- horse's neck, and I held it there 
with my hand, and started with him down toward a 
narrow lane. 

We had gone not more than forty feet, when we 
ran almost on another of our company badl\- used up 
b\- the extreme heat. The bo\s got him up and he 
hung on to my right leg. I again started slowly for the 
lane with m\' two charges. Just as we emerged from 
the woods, a shell from one of the rebel guns came 
over and struck on the top rail of a fence not over six 
feet from us and exploded. I shook m\self to find 
whether I was all there or not. Neither one of us, or 
m}- horse, was hurt. I called one of my men to me 
and turned over m)' charges to him and rode as fast as 
I could to hnd Lieut. -Col. Gould. 

In doing so I passed between the guns of our 
battery and their caissons. Bearing to the left I came 
to the rear ol the P^irst, who were drawn up in compan\' 
front. 

Passing their right I saw Gen. Custer riding toward 
them, bareheaded, as fast as he could go. 

I stopped to find out what move he was going to 
make. 



33 



Gen. Custer rode up to Col. Town, commanding, 
and said: ''Col. Town, the Seventh Cavalr)- has broke; 
I shall have to ask you to charge the rebels." 

Col. Town, "who was in the last stages of con- 
sumption and so weak that he had to have help to 
mount his horse so as to command his regiment during 
the fight," turned in his saddle and gave the command 
to draw sabres, forward march, trot, charge, each in 
succession. 

After the Fifth had run out of ammunition, and 
therefore were compelled to withdraw, the rebels 
mounted their whole force, about fifteen hundred, 
and charged our batter}-, thinking the}' could take it. 

It was a grand sight to see them as they formed 
in battalion front and move forward as only old vet- 
eran soldiers can 

()n the\' came down the slight decline over which 
the}' had come twice before in charging the Fifth 
Michigan. 

Their line was almost perfect until they reached 
the fence that our boys had held so long. 

.After getting over this fence. Gen. Wade Hamp- 
ton, who was in command, gave the order to charge. 

It was at this point that Gen. Custer ordered the 
Seventh Michigan Cavalr\' to charge the rebels, but 
they were forced to retreat. 

It was at this time that Gen. Custer called on Col. 
Town, as before stated. 

The l^'irst Michigan struck the rebels on their left 
flank, about in the middle and actually went clear 
through them, cutting them in two parts. 



The sabre was all the}' used. 

Many a rebel was knocked over, horse and all, by 
being struck with the horses of the First, and man\' 
more were killed and wounded by the sabre. 

The First Michigan bo3-s striking the rebs in the 
left flank, crowded them up in a heap, so much so that 
the rebs could hardly do anything but try to defend 
themselves. 

Gen. Wade Hampton called out in a loud voice: 
"Give way on the right flank," and this was repeated 
by the other officers, but the order was not, nor could 
it be obeyed. 

Immediately after giving the above order. Gen 
Hampton received a severe cut on the head from a 
First Michigan boy which came very near ending his 
life. 

Although the rebs outmuiibered the First four to 
one, yet they were completely beaten and got back as 
soon as possible under cover of the four guns the)' had 
left. 

Without doubt this was the most gallant cavalr\- 
charge made during the war. 

The Fifth and Seventh (of which Compan}- A did 
its full share) helped to defeat the rebel charge b\- 
attacking the rebs in the rear as fast as they could get 
mounted. 

As soon as the First Michigan had started I saw 
that our battery would likel)' kill as many of them as 
the rebs unless they saw the charge, which was not 
likel\-. 

I turned my horse's head toward the batter\- and 



35 



clapped both spurs in his flanks, calling at the top of 
my voice to the gunners " To look out for the First 
Michigan." 

I passed to the rear of the guns and rode up to the 
side of Lieut. Pennington, telling him also to look out 
for the First. 

By this time the rebs in the front had got w ithin 
less than ten rods of the guns. The lieutenant in 
charge of the two right guns thought it was about 
time to be getting out of the way, and ordered the 
caissons to limber up. 

At this moment Lieut. Pennington, turning his 
head, saw what was being done, and ordered them to 
unlimber and to give them a double charge of canister. 

This order was given in ver}- forcible language, 
and it was obe\ed instantl\'; all four of the guns were 
fired point blank with a double charge of canister into 
the face of the rebs. 

This iron hail, storm was more than they could 
stand. 

The\' wheeled to the right to retreat, but found 
that they were cut off by the First Michigan. 

The\- made a wide detour to the right, and the 
most of them got back to their lines. 

Without doubt several of the boys of the First 
wore killed and more wore wounded by our own 
battery, but it was absolutely necessary to break that 
charge at an}' cost, for if it succeeded there were no 
Union troops between the rebels and our ammunition 
trains. 



If the rebels could have destroyed them our arnn- 
would have been compelled to retreat. 

Our bo\-.s followed up the rebs on their retreat as 
far as it was safe to do so, killing and wounding a good 
man\' and capturing several. 

This was the last attempt of Stewart to get at our 
trains and the last of our fight at Gettysburg. 

The fighting closed about five o'clock. Then I 
began to look after the boys of our company. I found 
Serg. Frank Barber had been shot through the bowels. 
He died shortl\' after. Two others were hurt b}' their 
horses falling on them. Several were missing, part of 
whom turned up the next day. Peter Levalle_\- was 
killed b_\' a shell. 

About ten o'clock that e\ening (Friday, Jul\' 3rd, 
1863) our regiment had orders to move about four 
miles back on the Baltimore Pike. We were marched 
back very quietly to a cross road going towards Han- 
over Junction, down which we went about one mile. 
We were halted and ordered to dismount and la\' down 
in ambush to the left of the road. Our horses were 
sent to the left and rear. Orders were passed a!ong 
the line to keep down and no talking. Company A 
had the right of the line, which rested on the road. 
Across the road was a brick farm-house. I felt sure 
that this house must be full of people from Gettxsburg 
who had been able to get away, thinking this was far 
enough from the battle to be a safe place. 

Lieut. -Col. Gould lay near, and I went to him and 
got permission to go across the road and arouse the 
folks in the house. I took one of m\- men with me and 



went to the back door and rapped but got no answer 
I then took out my big Colts revolver and knocked 
with the butt end of it quite loudly. This ver\' soon 
brought a man to the door. I asked him if there were 
any others in the house. He said there was a dozen or 
more there. I told him to get them all up and dressed 
as soon as possible, but not to light a candle nor to 
make an\' noise. The) soon came out and I started 
them off to the right and rear towards the nearest farm 
house, a very scared lot of men, women and children. 

After seeing them well on the road, I returned with 
my man to the house, going into the kitchen in search 
of something to eat, but was sadly disappointed. I 
tried to finci a door going down to the cellar but could 
find none. Going out on the back porch I found a 
trap door in the floor. I threw this up and lit a match. 
Found there was a ladder there. Down I went and 
soon found three or four large loaves of bread, a jar of 
butter and a large boiled ham. I threw these up to the 
man on the porch. Closing the trap door, we took the 
eatables in our arms and crawled back to my companw 
Calling Col. Gould to me and several other friends, we 
ate the whole up very quickl\' and with a good relish, 
as none of us had much to eat for the last two da}s. 
Soon after this our scouts returned saying there were 
no rebels coming down that waw We were ordered 
back to the part of the field \vc had left the evening 
before 

About two o'clock a. m., being completely ex- 
hausted, 1 laid down by the side of a fence near the 
Rummel House; holding m)' horse by a strap, and slept 



soundly until about three o'clock on Saturda\- morning, 
when I was awakened by ni)' horse pulling on the strap. 
I turned over and found that Gen Kilpatrick and 
Custer had ridden close to where I lay, and were laying 
plans to follow up Gen. Lee if he should retreat, which 
both of them seemed to think he would do that da)-. 
It was now near daylight, and I got up and found the 
most of Company A had slept very near me. I roused 
them so the}' would have plent\- of time to make a cup 
of coffee before being called on to move. We had 
very little to eat, our commissary wagons not coming 
up. I ran across one of my men that had about half a 
cup of coffee and half of a hard tack, which he kindlv 
gave me. 

I found Lieut. -Col. Gould and told him that I was 
going to Washington and lay my case before Hon. E. 
M. Stanton, secretary of war. Col. Gould was tem- 
poraril\- in command of the regiment. I found my 
satchel in our wagon, and changing m\- field suit for 
m\- dress suit, started from near the Round Tops about 
eight o'clock a. m. on Saturday, the 4th of |ul\-, 1863, 
for Washington. About ten o'clock it began to rain 
very hard. It was more of a cloud burst than a rain 
storm. I stopped at a house beside the road until it 
passed over, then rode on until I came to a hotel where 
I stopped and fed m\- horse and got dinner. Then I 
rode on until late in the evening when I reached a 
farm-house where I had supper, stable for my horse 
and the privilege of sleeping in the hay mow. 

After breakfast I started on. About noon reached 
Frederick, Md. Greatly to m)' astonishment, when 



39 



riding b\- a vacant lot, I heard some one call out 
" Hello, Lieut. Harris, where are you going?" Look- 
ing around there sat Maj. Luther Trowbridge of our 
regiment, and near him was Col. Alger, both on their 
wav to Washington with the body of Maj. Ferry, who 
was killed at Gettysburg. The major rode out to where 
I sat in the road and asked: "Where are )ou going?" 
1 answered "Am bound for Washington to lay my case 
before the Secretary of War, and have the consent of 
Col. Gould, who was in command of the regiment." 
He rode back to where Col. Alger sat on his horse and 
told him what I had said. They both laughed heartily 
at the fix the\- supposed I would be in. I paid no more 
attention to them but went on my way. I reached 
Washington about two o'clock p. m. on Monday, July 
6th. I came in on Fourteenth street. Crossing Penn- 
sx'lvania avenue, I put my horse in a livery stable just 
south of Willard's Hotel, and starting immediatelx for 
the War Department, and soon reached the ante-room 
of the secretarw Here the guard refused me entrance 
and referred me to one of the clerks. I told him I 
wanted to see Mr. Stanton. He said that the secretary 
was engaged and would be for some time, but if I would 
state my business to him, he would refer it to the secre- 
tar}^ as soon as he was at leisure. This 1 declined to 
do. He then went into the private office of the secre- 
tary. Ver\- soon a very })leasant looking gentleman, 
about fort\- years old, came out and asked if I was the 
officer tliat wished to see Mr. Stanton. I answered, 
" Yes, and that 1 wished to see him in person." He 
said that he was assistant secretary of war, and was sent 

40 



out by the secretar_\- to see what my business was. I 
then asked him to step to the other side of the room 
where the others could not hear us. He went to a hio-h 
desk and leaned against it. I told him in very few 
words how Col. Gra\- had placed me under arrest and 
how Col. Alger had kept me so, and that I had asked 
to be released on the battle field of Gettx'sburg. Look- 
ing him in the eye I said: "Mr. Dana, I came down 
here to flight and not to be put under arrest. I have 
come to headquarters and expect to get one of two 
thing'^, either to be dishonorabl}- discharged or to be 
honorably sent back to my company." He quickly 
asked: "Where are you stopping?" I answered "I 
shall go to r^Iurray's Hotel, directly opposite the 
National." He told me to go direct to the hotel, and 
if the provo guard should stop me to refer the officer to 
him. I went to the hotel and soon had supper, and 
was sitting in the reading room when a bell boy came 
to the door and wanted to know if Lieut. Harris was 
there. I answered " Yes." He said there were two 
officers in a carriage at the door waiting to see me. I 
went out and there sat Col. Geo. Gray,* of the Sixth 
Michigan Cavalry, with Col. N. P. Richmond, of the 
First West \'irginia Cavalry. 

Col. Gray reached out his hand and pulled me into 
the hack. There we sat while they told me the\- were 
both in with Secretary Stanton while I was seeking an 
interview with him. After I left, Mr. Dana came in 

*Col. Gray was the officer that relieved inc of my ciHiiinand aiul turned mo 
over to Col. .\lger. Col. Gray was a friend of mine, and I had done a good deal 
of service under him. Col. Richmond was a warm friend to me. We had been 
together a good deal both in field and camp. 

41 



and told Mr. Stanton before them, what I had said to 
him. He turned to Col. Gra\' and asked him if he 
knew anything about the case. Col. Gra)' said he 
knew all about it; that ever\- word I had said was true, 
and that I had stated the case very mildl)'. He then 
directed the colonel to call at my hotel and release uie 
fnvH arrest, by his order, and to take me back to Gen. 
Custer and tell him to see that I was placed in mv 
proper position, and " if such a thing happens again, 
he would take a hand in it himself; and if he did, the 
hair would fl)' off some one's scalp." 

Col. Richmond had also put in a good word for 
me, although he knew nothing of the case in hand. Of 
course, I was more than pleased at the outcome, and 
after paying m}' bill rode with them to the stable where 
my horse was, and mounting, rode beside their carriage 
to the government stables, where their horses were. 
We all mounted and rode to the remount camp back of 
Alexandria, Va., that night. 

The ne.xt morning we started for the arm\' with 
quite a large force of men and lead horses. Col. Rich- 
mond found his brigade soon after we had passed Cen- 
terville, and bade us good-b\'e. Col. Gra\' kept on 
with his detachment until we found the Michigan 
I^rigade, sending the men and horses to their respective 
regiments. Then he went to Gen. Custer and made his 
report, taking me along. He wanted me to go in with 
him, but I soon convinced him that it would be better 
for both if I staid out. (1 requested him not to tell the 
General that I was outside.) 

When he came out and said he had told the General 



how I had been used b\' Col. Alger, Gen Custer ex- 
pressed himself very strongl)- about it, and told Col. 
Gray if I had come to him on the field of Gettysburg 
he would gladly accepted m}- services. I found where 
my regiment lay and reported to Lieut. -Col. Gould, 
who was still in command, who ordered mc to take my 
place as first lieutenant in Compan_\' A. 

I found my compan\' near Bristoe Station. .Soon 
after we were ordered to make a reconnoiter as far as 
Falmouth. I was ordered to take six men and a cor- 
poral, and to take the advance of the regiment. I went 
ahead until I reached the heights back of Falmouth. 
There I saw that a large force of rebels were in Fred- 
ericksburg. But I wanted to get a closer view of them, 
so I started down the road to Falmouth. When about 
half WAN' down, the rebels opened fire on us at long 
range, with rifles; the distance being about one mile. 
The bullets fell about us thick and fast, but did no harm 
to any of us or our horses. I started down the hill on 
a trot until near the bottom I found a deep gulley. I 
turned into this and found that it completeK' sheltered 
m)' men and horses. I left all my men here except one 
corporal. 

We started on foot to make our wa)' into Fal- 
mouth. Part of the wa\- we would have to expose our- 
selves, and every time we did so, a perfect shower of 
bullets would fall all about us. We both reached the 
main street of the village without harm. This street 
ran toward the Rappahannock river, on the other side 
of which was Fredericksburg In order to see all I 
could of the situation of the rebels, I crawled up beside 

43 



a house and put my head out from the corner just far 
enough to see across the river. 

The rebel sharpshooters knowing about where I 
was, and being on the lookout for me, soon spied my 
head, and sent a shower of bullets at me. One of them 
struck in the corner boards, directly against my right 
temple, and going clear through the board edgewise, 
which was four inches thick, struck me in the temple. 
The force of the bullet was almost entirely spent in 
going through the board, not force enough to even 
break the skin. Yet it had force sufficient to knock 
me flat on the ground, and to raise a big swelling on 
m\' temple. I fell behind the house out of sight from 
the rebs. A woman, whose husband was in the rebel 
army, who lived in a house that was hidden from view 
of the sharpshooters by other houses, seeing me fall 
she came to my help with her son, who was about six- 
teen years old. They helped me into her house and 
laid me on a lounge. I laid here some moments in a 
daze, but soon came to. I thanked the lady and her 
son for their kindness. I returned to the place where 
I had left the corporal, and together we returned to the 
others we had left in the ravine. In getting back to 
them we had to expose ourselves to the sight of the 
reb sharpshooters. They would send a lot of bullets 
after us. But we were soon out of their reach and 
neither of us were hurt. The woman and her son that 
had taken care of me were well remembered, not only 
b)' myself but by all the Michigan boys who knew of 
the circumstance. They were well supplied with food 
as long as any of us were in that part of the country. 



After getting out of range, I went leisurely back 
towards the camp we had left in the morning. We had 
not gone far when I saw a column coming towards us. 
I soon saw that it was m}- regiment, the Fifth Michigan 
Cavalry. The}' were followed b}' Gen. Custer and the 
rest of the brigade. We joined the column and went 
down on top of the heights, about a mile below Fal- 
mouth, and camped on the hills about a mile from the 
river, and nearh' opposite the Lac}- house. 

About three days after this I was ordered to take 
m}- company (A) and take command of the picket line, 
from the Lacy house to the street running through 
Falmouth. The full length of the line was not over 
one mile but it was the worst line I ever had command 
of. M}' headquarters were in the Lacy house. Not a 
man could show his head but a reb bullet would zip too 
close to him for comfort. They would fire on the 
pickets ever}- chance the}- could get. The}- were ver}- 
angry at the terrible defeat the}- got at Gett}'sburg. 

I ran all the horses inside the Lac}- house and 
barricaded the doors and windows in the lower part of 
the house the best I could, and arranged m}- men in the 
second stor}-, the better to defend themselves, as I 
expected the rebs would come over and tr}- to capture 
us at any time, and especiall}- in the night. 

The next morning about ten o'clock, Gen. Custer 
rode down the hill to my headquarters, and asked how 
things were on my line. After giving him a statement 
of facts, he said he wanted some one to go down to the 
river with a flag of truce, and find out whether Gen. 
Rosser was there. He said the\- were class mates at 



West Point, and if he was in camp near there, he 
(Custer) would Hke to go over and have a visit with 
him. It was not a very safe or easy job, so I told the 
General I would go down m)-self. I had no white 
handkerchief, so he handed me his. I walked up the 
river road holding the handkerchief over my head, A 
large crowd very soon collected to see what the Yankee 
wanted. I called for the officer in command of the 
picket line. When he came I asked him if Gen. Rosser 
was near there. He said he was likeh' at his head- 
quarters. I asked him to send for him to come down 
that Gen. Custer was close b}' and would like to come 
over. In about half an hour Gen. Rosser rode down to 
the opposite bank and called to me. I answered that 
Gen. Custer was back in my camp and would come over 
if he would like to see him and would guarantee him a 
safe return. He answered, " Send him over." An 
officer was sent down their line to give orders, " No 
firing." I went back and escorted Gen. Custer down to 
the river and called to Gen. Rosser to send a boat over. 
He did so. Custer staid over until about four o'clock. 
I was becoming anxious about him when he returned, 
saying that he " had a fine time over there." 

About a week after this I was ordered to take si.\ 
men and a corporal and make a reconnoisance towards 
King George Court House. I started after dark, so the 
rebs could not see me leave camp. I went aSout ten 
miles and found I was on the wrong road. I was com- 
pelled to bivouac in the road until da\light. As soon 
as it was light enough to see, we found the right road 
and went on our wa}' to Aquia Creek. Here we fed our 



horses and made coffee for ourselves. We started 
again down the Potomac river road. We had gone 
about two miles when one of my men looking back, 
saw quite a force of rebel cavalry on a hill about a mile 
back of us, and in the road we had just come over. 1 
did not stop, but kept right on down the road. I knew 
there was no use to fight because there was at least ten 
of them to our one. The onl\' thing I could do was to 
escape them by stratagem. I saw a house about a 
quarter of a mile ahead of me and very close to the 
road. I rode direct to it and had all my men ride 
behinci the house so the rebs could not see them. I 
rode up to the door, and taking out m}- big navy 
revolver, knocked quite hard on the door. Ver}' soon 
a man opened it. I asked him where there was a bridge 
to cross the deep run at the foot of the hill. He said 
there was none. I raised my revolver with the muzzle 
close to his head, and said to him: "Tell me ver\- quick 
where there is a bridge or I will blow your brains out." 
This scared him, and he said, " Don't shoot. Captain, 
and I will show \ou." He then came out of the door 
and pointed to a clump of bushes and said I would find 
an old bridge there, but that it was ver)- old and I would 
have to be careful or it would go down. W'e rode to 
the bushes and soon found the bridge. I had the men 
ride over one at a time on a walk. After the\' were all 
over I crossed, and taking the lead, followed the old 
road up the hill, on top of which we found a good road 
running direct to the Rappahannock river. I kept up 
as good a pace as was safe on account of the horses, as 
we were fully fifteen miles from camp. A five mile 



march brought us to the river road. Here I halted a 
few moments to rest the horses. We had not seen or 
heard an}thing of the compan}- of rebels that we had 
seen in our rear, and I began to feel quite sure we had 
escaped them. After giving the horses a short rest we 
started on a ten-mile march up the river road to camp. 
We kept a sharp lookout for the rebs for fear the\' 
would try and ambush us. 

We had marched six or seven miles when on round- 
ing a curve in the road, we saw ahead of us a column of 
twent}'-five or thirt}' cavalr\' men coming towards us. I 
could not tell whether the}' were frien i or foe for the 
dust. I knew the only thing we could do was to go 
right along. Very soon we came near enough to see 
they were part of a company of our own regiment, sent 
out to render an\' assistance to me I might need. The\' 
turned about and I took the advance, as m\' horses were 
about exhausted from a fift)' mile march, and their 
horses being fresh, I feared they would leave us too far 
behind. We soon reached our outpost about a mile 
from the Lacy House. I halted here long enough to 
tell the officer in command, that without doubt, we 
were being followed up by quite a large force of rebels, 
and that he had better be prepared for them. We went 
on about two miles to the camp. I gave m\' horse into 
the care of my orderly and went to m\' tent, and had 
just laid down on m)' bunk to get some needed rest, 
when I heard quite heavy firing at the picket post we 
had just left. A force of about one hundred that had 
been following us, attacked the post and captured sev- 
eral men and horses, then rode down the picket line to 

48 



the ford and went across the river into Fredericksburg. 
I was congratulated by some of the officers of the regi- 
ment for the skill I had shown in getting out of the 
trap, and returning without the loss of a man or horse. 
I thought at the time, and still think, that I was sent 
out on the above expedition with the small force at my 
command, for the purpose of getting me killed or cap- 
tured. If killed, I would be out of the wa\-. If cap- 
tured, I would be reported to the War Department as 
leaving camp on an expedition without orders. Then 
I would be dishonorably discharged. In either case I 
would be out of the wa\'. Lieut. -Col. Gould, as soon 
as he heard of my being ordered out on the above 
scouting expedition, sent the company that I met on 
the river road, out to help me in case they could find 
me. 

Soon after this we were ordered to move up the 
river to guard the United States ford. While there I 
was detailed to take command of about fifty men from 
our regiment, and to report to Maj.-Gen. Sykes, who 
commanded the Fifth arm\' corps. I did not know 
what my dut}- was to be until I reached his headquart- 
ers, and reported to his adjutant-general. He assigned 
me as commander of the bod\' guard and orderlies at 
headquarters of the Fifth arm\' corps. In some respects 
it was a very pleasant position, as it practically put me 
on Gen. .Sykes' staff. I found the General rather in- 
clined to be crust}' and hard to please. I sh :)wed him 
all due respect, and saw that his orders were carried 
out promptly; yet I kept from personal contact with 
him as much as possible. His Adjutant-General was a 



good soldier and a perfect gentleman (I have forgotten 
his name.) 

Most of the officers composing his staff were fine 
young men. Two or three of them liked whisky too 
well for their own good and the good of the service- 
The Fifth corps was camped to the right of Culpepper, 
and near the Rapidan river. The headquarters was in 
a splendid large Virginia mansion, beautifully located 
on an eminence overlooking the river valley with the 
Blue Ridge mountains across the river for a back 
ground. 

We lay here about two weeks, during which time I 
tried m}' best to get m\' small command into good 
working shape. This I found a hard task, as the men 
came from several regiments and companies. I had 
one second lieutenant under me from another regiment. 
1 would have been much better off without him, for he 
was drunk most of the time, and even when sober he 
was a regular bum. Yet I soon got the compan}- in 
very fair shape. I won the respect and obedience of 
the men by being kind as well as firm with them. 
About the lOth of October I received orders to have 
ni)' command read)' to move at a moment's notice. 

The ne.xt morning I received orders to send small 
detachments to several division headquarters. I onl\- 
had eight or ten men left with me at corps headcjuar- 
ters. Some move was being made by part of our corps. 
Two or three divisions moved out toward the river, but 
they soon returned without bringing on a battle. I soon 
learned it was onl)' a reconnoisance in force to find out 
what move Gen. Lee was making. 



The next morning we broke up camp and marched 
back to and beyond Brand)' station. We kept on the 
march until we reached the fortifications at Centerville. 

On this march, when near Bristoe station, Gen. 
Sykes sent me with orders to some of the division com- 
manders. I dehvered the orders, which took me until 
afternoon. I then started to rejoin the General. I rode 
as fast as possible for f >ur or five miles, but saw no 
troops. I crossed a field near the station and found a 
lot of hard-tack and a barrel of pork. 1 jumped off my 
horse and filled m\' pockets with hard-tack, and taking 
out my knife cut off a big piece of pork, and mounting, 
was off as fast as my horse could go, at the same time 
eating the raw salt pork and hard-tack, and thinking all 
the time what a lucky man I was to be able to enjo\' 
such a feast. After a ride of about three miles, I came 
up with Gen. S}kes and his v\djutant-General sitting on 
their horses under the shade of a big tree. I saluted 
Gen. S\'kes and told him I had delivered his orders, 
and what I had seen, how far I had ridden, and not seen 
any troops. I then asked him if they had an\' dinner. 
They both said "no." I then pulled out some hard- 
tack and gave it to them. I reached in my saddle bag 
and pulled out a bottle of whisky, and passed it to the 
General, saying it was a good article and he might want 
a little. He thanked me ver\- much and took the 
bottle. It had never been uncorked and none of us 
had a corkscrew. The Adjutant-General said he could 
fix it. He placed it across the pommel of his saddle, 
and taking a large knife, striking the head of the bottle 
broke it off. The General drank a lot of it and passed 



it to his adjutant, and he passed the bottle to another 
of the staff, who joined us in the meantime When the 
bottle reached me again there was not one drop of 
whisk}' in it. 

I was completel)' tired out and wanted a swallow 
of it and actually needed it. I always carried it with 
me when possible to do so, and especialh' if we were 
likcl\- to have an engagement. Yet I never drank it 
except in case of extreme exhaustion. 

The Adjutant-General seeing my condition, and 
knowing that not a drop was left forme, felt ver\' much 
mortified and apologized for their ungentlemanly act. 

I have read in history (Harper's Histor\' of the 
Great Rebellion, page 520) that Gen. Warren blamed 
Gen. Sx'kes for not coming to his aid that afternoon in 
his fight with Gen. Hill at Bristoe Station. I am quite 
sure it was some time after noon when I crossed the 
field near Ba'istoe, and as near as I can remember, it 
was about two o'clock p. m. when I overtook Cien. 
-Sx'kes. It must have been a half hour after that we left 
the friendh' shade of the trees and moved slowly on 
the road towards Centerville. 

I was behind the General and heard no firing, or 
an\' other indication of a battle, in our rear. I am quite 
sure no messenger came to Gen. S\kes notifying him 
of the fix Gen. Warren was in, and that he needed help. 
We went on rather slowl\- until wc reached Centerville. 
We stayed here two or three days. Then we were 
ordered to return to Culpcp])er. A ver_\- severe rain 
storm, which continued abcjut two days, made the roads 
and small streams almost impassable, making the 



march \'ery slow and tedious. Another reason for our 
slow movements was that Gen. Lee had completeh' 
destroyed the railroad from Bristoe Station to Culpep- 
per. Our movements were timed with the thorough 
repair of the railroad. 

This was the only way we had of getting supplies. 
We were fully ten days in getting back near our old 
camping ground. During the ver}' first of this cam- 
paign, I was taken with a bad case of the army diar- 
rhoea, caused b\' the bad water, mostly swamp water, 
we were compelled to drink, together with hard work 
I had to do, and ver_\' irregular eating. W'e la}- in camp 
a few da\'s when Gen. Lee began another flank move- 
ment around our right. Gen. Meade seemed ver\- much 
alarmed about his communications with Washington. 
He forgot that his arm}' was well supplied, and that 
Lee's ami}' could not carr}- over five da}'s rations, and 
that if Lee was across his communications, he was also 
across Lee's, and could cut him off from an\' possible 
retreat, and would ha\e him between his own ami}- and 
the defences of Washington. Notwithstanding these 
facts, Gen. Meade issued orders to retreat with all 
possible despatch to Centerville. Back we went \er}' 
much to the disgust of the whole arm}'. The bo}'s 
dubbed these marches as " Lee and Meade's Express 
from Centerville to Culpepper." The surgeon at corps 
headquarters was unable to even check ni}- diarrhoea, 
and I was getting ver}- weak. I staid in ni}' saddle 
attending to m\' duties until we were within a few miles 
of Warrenton Junction, when I gave out completeh'. 
The surgeon ordered up the headquarter's ambulance 



and placed mc in it. I was driven to Warrenton Junc- 
tion. The surgeon rode over to Gen. Meade and told 
him of my condition. The General said he had orders 
not to send an}- more sick or wounded to Washington, 
as all the hospitals there were full, but that he could, 
and would, give me a ten daws' leave of absence. He 
sent it by the surgeon, and also sent word that as the 
season was so far advanced, there would be ver\' little 
done until spring, and that I could sta\- at home until I 
was fulh' recovered. I had to send a phx'sician's cer- 
tificate every ten days, sa\'ing I was unable to return. 
I was placed in a bo.x car at Warrenton Junction that 
was going direct to Washington. I reached there in 
the evening, and went to the home of an old friend, 
John W. Green. Mrs. Green was ver}- kind to me, and 
cooked some very palatable dishes, which not onl\' 
tasted good, but did me good. I staid over night with 
them. The next da\- I went to the Pa\'master-General 
and drew part of my back pay and started for home 
that evening. I reached Rochester, Mich., at about two 
o'clock in the afternoon of the second da\- out, a very 
tired and used up young man. I got out of the stage at 
the cross street on which we lived. We were then 
living in the brick house on the hill. My folks did not 
know of my coming until I knocked at the door. I 
need not sa\- that it was a happ\- meeting with m\ wite, 
father and mother, \-et the)- were surprised and sorry 
to see me in the condition 1 was. My wife and mother 
soon had a ver\- nice dinner for me, which 1 enjoyed 
\er\- much. The\- sent for a doctor, but he gave me 



ver\- little medicine, sayint^ that tyood nursing and good 
food would be better than medicine. 

An incident happened, or rather several of them, 
on my journe\' home that afforded me a good deal of 
amusement. When I left the front I kept on m\- 
officer's pants and vest, but put on an undress cavalr)' 
blouse, without an\- straps on the shoulders. While 
an\' person knowing anything of military dress would 
know that I was an officer, yet they could not tell my 
rank. 

When 1 reached \Washington, D. C, those that I 
met on the street would ask, " Colonel, how is it out at 
the front?" When I got as far as Pittsburg, Pa., those 
I met would ask, " Major, how is it out to the front?" 
When 1 reached Cleveland, Ohio, it was, "Captain, how 
is it at the front?" When I reached Detroit, Mich., I 
met several that knew me and my rank. The\- asked, 
"Well, Lieutenant, how is it at the front?" When I 
arrived at Rochester, twent)-five miles north of Detroit, 
the stage drew up at the corner where I was to get out. 
A little boy about five )ears old, dirt}' and ragged, ran 
out of a blacksmith's shop on the corner and stood by 
the side of the stage. As I got out he looked up at me 
and said, " Hello, Sam, is that you?" This was the cap 
sheaf, and recalled all the other ranks I had been called 
since leaving the front. 

A few days after I related the incidents to the 
editor of the Pontiac Gazette, and he wrote up a very 
amusing article, entitled " Letting Him Down I^as}'." 
This article was copied in almost e\'cr\' northern paper. 



B5 



M\' name was not mentioned, but ever}"body in that 
part of the country kne\v who the officer was. 

I reached home, as above related, about the 20th 
of (October, 1863 I staid there until about the last of 
November, and had improved so much in health that I 
returned to the arniN'. I reached the headquarters of 
the cavalry corps, and found that our brigade was 
camped near Stevensburg. I rode there and reported 
to Lieut. -Col. Gould, who was in command of the regi- 
ment, and told him I wanted to stay with my compan\', 
and under no circumstances did I want to go back to 
the headquarters of the Fifth army corps. He told me 
he was glad to get me back, and ordered me to take 
command of my company, and that he would fix things 
all right for me to stay with him. 

I went to m)- compan\', and a glad lot of men they 
were to see me back again. There was no commis- 
sioned officer with them. Capt. Gray had resigned. 
The second lieutenant had been discharged on account 
of sickness. The orderl)- sergeant was in command. 
He was one of the best sergeants in the regiment, but 
no commander. The bo\s that wanted a firm hand 
over them, would run right over him. 1 had him call 
the compan\' out, and went down the whole line shak- 
ing hands with ever\' one of them. In doing this I 
scanned every man to see if he was clean and kept his 
clothes in nice condition. I ordered them to break 
ranks, and calling the orderl\- to m\' tent, told him to 
quietl}' call two of the men to me. They were very 
unclean and unkempt. I told them they must wash up 
clean, have their hair and whiskers cut, brush up their 



clothes and black their shoes, and come back to me in 
an hour and let me see how the\- looked. The\' came 
back in less than an hour, looking like other men. 
The}' were actually proud of themselves. The}- prom- 
ised me never to become so dirt}' and slack about their 
person again. Soon after this I was sent down to Rac- 
coon ford on picket dut}' with my compan}'. I very 
quickl}' found I had run into another regular hornet's 
nest. Ever}' chance the rebs got the}' fired on my 
pickets. I gave strict orders not to return the fire. 
After about tvvent}'-four hours the rebs concluded to 
hold up. One of them came down to the river and 
wanted to know whether it was the same compan}' that 
had been there for several da}'S. I sent word back that 
it was a new compan}', and that there would be no 
picket firing on ni}' line, and that I hoped the}' would 
stop. The commander of their line said the}- would 
stop. The}' did not fire an}' more. After this 1 had a 
ver\' pleasant time on this line. 

After being on this post about five daxs I was 
relieved b}' another compan}', and we returned to camp. 
I then ha 1 about two weeks of pleasant camp life. It 
was beautiful fall weather, and I spent what spare time 
I had in riding about visiting officers I was acquainted 
with in other regiments. One morning I received a 
ver}' pleasant note from Brig. -Gen. Henr}' E. Davies, 
commanding the first brigade second di\'ision, of the 
cavalr}' corps, sa}'ing that the Hon. A. C. Baldwin and 
wife were visiting at his headquarters, and asking me 
to come over and spend the afternoon and take teawith 
them. Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin were old friends of our 



family, and lived in Pontiac, Mich. Mr. Baldwin was 
member of congress from our district. I rode over to 
Gen. Davies' headquarters, and spent a ver\- pleasant 
afternoon with the General, his wife and daughter, and 
Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin. After tea I mounted and 
returned to m\' camp. My invitation was b)- request of 
Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin. In the morning of the 31st of 
December, 1863, Lieut. -Col. Gould sent for me to come 
to his tent. I went up immediately. He tolci me to 
take m\' companx' and go to Germania ford and relieve 
the officer, with his command, on duty there. He 
remarked that he wanted to see me again; meaning 
that he did not want me to be gobbled up by the rebels 
coming across the rixer, and taking me and part of n\v 
men prisoners. I told him that he had sent me out a 
good many times and I had always come back. "Yes," 
he said, " that is the reason I send you down there now." 
He told me there had been a good deal of trouble at 
that ford; that the rebels had come over and captured 
quite a number of our men. 

I started from m\' camp about 2 p. m. with about 
sixty men. It had been raining very hard the day be- 
fore, so the roads were very bad, the mud being from 
three to four inches deep. About noon the wind began 
to blow quite hard from the north and the weather 
turned very cold. I reached the ford about four o'clock 
and found the officer in command in a camp fully a 
mile back from the ford. I asked him to send a cor- 
poral along with me, and 1 would send some of my men 
out to relieve his men on post. This officer warned me 
not to go any nearer the ford than he was, or the rebels 



would come over and gobble us all up before we could 
get out of the way. I told him 1 was sent to guard the 
ford, and could not do it if 1 was over a mile awaw I 
kept on down the road and found a fine dr\- place for 
men and horses about a quarter of a mile from the ford. 
It was a place that could be easily defended against a 
force much larger than I had. As soon as 1 had sent 
the relief out, I set to work la}'ing out the camp. We 
soon had things in good shape. The men cut down 
trees and we had a big log fire to keep us warm and to 
eat our supper by. I noticed on the way down that 
back of the place I had selected for n\v camp, not more 
than a half-mile, there was an old log house about I2xi6 
feet. This house contained a man and woman about 
fifty }ears old, and two girls about twenty and twenty- 
two }ears old. I knew these girls, without doubt, were 
not only prostitutes, but were spies. The}- w ould find 
out the location of our pickets and in the night slip 
across the river and inform the rebs. As soon as 1 had 
the men and horses taken care of, I sent a trust)- sergeant 
and two or three men to this house, and notified all of 
them to leave that night, and not to be found on the 
line again, or I would arrest them, and send all to our 
headquarters as spies. The\' left immediately. Where 
the\' went to I neither knew or cared. 

It had grown ver\- cold, and by seven o'clock the 
mud had frozen hard enough to bear up the horses. 
When the 7 o'clock relief came in, I stood at the en- 
trance of the camp. I saw some of the men were very 
cold. I had another relief sent out, as 1 knew no man 
could sit on his horse two hours without ereat damrer 



of being badl\' frost-bitten. I continued to send out 
reliefs as fast as one would come in during the whole 
time of m}' sta)'. 

In this wa}- no man had to sit on picket post more 
than one hour at a time. None of ni}' men were frost- 
bitten in the least. There was an old house about 200 
feet from the ford and about half wa\' up the hill; on 
the side toward the ri\er was a small stoop. I sent a 
corporal and six men to this house with instructions to 
keep a picket constantl\' on the stoop which overlooked 
the river. I gave them permission to build a fire in the 
fire-place to keep themselves warm, also to run their 
horses into the house if safe. It was a fearful cold 
night. I was up all night looking after men and horses. 
1 had buckets of hot coffee for the men as they came 
off post. 

In the morning (Jan. I, 1864) as soon as I had m\- 
breakfast of hard-tack and coffee, I had m\- horse 
saddled up, and taking my orderly started to ride the 
line, beginning at the ford. After looking that o\er, I 
rode up the river. After riding about half a mile, 1 
found that the river took a long bend to the south, and 
returning again, continued on its course nearl\- west. 
The bend was like an oxbow, and was about half a mile 
each wa)-. It was called "Fox Neck." I found that 
the picket line ran across the neck instead of following 
along the river as it should have done. As it was, it 
left about two miles of the ri\er wholl\- unguarded, 
allowing the rebs to cross in perfect safety. No doubt, 
in this wa)- several of the pickets had been captured. 
The officer that laid out the line had made a bad blunder, 

CO 



but it would have been a very unsafe thing for me to do 
to change the line. 

On account of the extreme cold weather the night 
before, I had ordered reliefs to be sent out e\"ery 
hour. I decided to continue this as long as I was 
in command. This practicall}- was the same as hav- 
ing the line patrolled every hour b\' a squad of 
ten or twelve men. In looking o\er the neck, I saw 
there was a house about in the middle, being about 
a quarter of a mile from the line. I asked the 
picket whether he had seen an\- men about the 
house. I rode clear across the neck and asked each 
picket that could see the house (there were three) the 
same question. Each one said the\' had not seen anv 
person moving about it. There was smoke coming out 
of the chimne\', so I knew one or more persons lived 
there. Thinking it best to know who it was, I rode 
back and notified each of the pickets who had a view of 
the house, that I was going out there and to keep a 
sharp look-out for me, antl if the}' saw an_\ thing sus- 
picious, to fire off their gun and alarm the camp. I 
then rode out to the house, and coming up in the rear 
of it, putting my horse in the wood-shed out of the 
wind, knocked at the back door. M\' knock was the 
first intimation the inmates had that there was an}' 
person nearer than the picket line. I heard quite a 
rustling within. M}- first thought was that I was trapped. 
I alwa}S carried a big na\'}- revolver in ni}' right boot 
leg. I reached down and drew it out with ni} thumb 
on the hammer. Just at this time a large girl about 
eleven or twelve \-ears old opened the door. I saw 



that she was crying. This reassured me and 1 dropped 
my revolver back in m\- boot, the movement being 
unseen by her. I glanced hurriedly around the room 
that could be seen through the open door. Just behind 
the girl was a boy nine or ten )ears old. To the left 
was a lady sitting, leaning over a few coals in a large 
fire-place, with a shawl over her shoulders, and a little 
babe in her lap. Her back was toward me. The girl 
said, "Will you walk in, Sir?" Stepping inside I 
glanced over the room hurriedly to assure myself there 
were no rebs about. The girl set a chair by the fire- 
place to the left of her mother and asked me to have a 
seat. As I was sitting down I said to the lad)-, who 
had not yet turned her face to me, "Good morning. 
Madam." She turned her face toward me and said 
"Good morning, Captain." I saw she was crsing ver)' 
hard, and that she was not over thirty-five years old, 
yet she had a careworn and pinched expression on her 
face, but I could see that she was a refined and edu- 
cated ladw I said to her, "Madam, you seem to be in 
trouble here. If >ou will tell me what it is I ma\' be 
able to help \ou." She burst out crying and could say 
nothing for a moment. Then looking toward me she 
said, "Captain, we are starving, I have not had a 
mouthful to eat for twenty-four hours. We had one 
hard-tack apiece yesterda)'. I had two left; this morn- 
ing I broke them in two and ga\e half of one to each of 
my four children." 

.She had five children, one being a babe less than one 
year old. Upon hearing this I jumped up and said, 
"Madam, I did not come down here to fight women 

62 



and children, and 1 won't see you starve to death on my 
line. You will hear from me very soon." 1 strode out 
of the house with my ten pound cavalry boots, with big^ 
spurs, a nav}- revolver sticking out of the right boot 
leg, and my big sabre dragging on the floor, I likcl_\' 
made as much noise as a drove of cattle. I was soon 
mounted, and clapping spurs into my horse was soon at 
m\- camp. Just before I came up, the ration wagons 
had arrived and were unloading. A trust)' corporal 
stood near. I called to him to report to me there as 
soon as possible with three good men mounted. I or- 
dered some other men standing near by to dump three 
oat sacks (an oat sack held four bushels ) and to fill one 
to the biim with hartl-tack; another to be filled with 
soft bread. By this time the corporal and three men 
reported to me. I had the sack of hard-tack put up in 
front of one of the men, and the sack of soft bread in 
front of another. I had the empty sack laid in front of 
the third man, and selecting the largest fore-quarter of 
beef out of about a dozen, had it placed in front of him. 
I gave the corporal a few things from my tent for Mrs. 
Brooke, and told him to go to the house on the neck 
and present them to her with my compliments. The}' 
started on their journey of mere}' soon after noon and 
did not return until about four o'clock. 

1 laid down near the big camp tire to get some 
needed rest and sleep. When the boys came back they 
reported that Mrs. Brooke and all the children stood in 
the open door waiting for them as they rode uj). They 
carried all the things into the house and sat them down 
in the same room I had been in. No sooner had they 

63 



sat them down than Mrs. Brooke and each one of the 
children caught a loaf of bread and ate it as only a 
starving person can. The}' ate and laughed and cried 
for joy. They said the antics of the children were 
beyond description. All four of these men \\ere old 
soldiers and had been in several hard fought battles, 
yet their eyes and cheeks showed ver)- plainly that 
each one of them had been crying (they wouldn't own 
it) but I did not wonder at it after hearing their story. 
They said after all had ate to their fill that Mrs. Brooke 
and her daughter placed on the piano and sang for 
them. Mrs. Brooke sent her thanks to me for the food 
and a request to come out and see her that evening. 1 
could not well go as I had m\- hands full to take care of 
men and horses. 

The next morning (Jan. 2d), after an early break- 
fast, I mounted and rode the whole length of m\' line. 
After seeing everything was all right I rode out to 
Mrs. Brooke. As I rode up she and all of the children 
stood in the door waiting for me. The reader can 
better imagine the reception 1 received than 1 can 
write it. After this was over I pulled out of m\" over- 
coat pocket a quart bottle of whisky, remarking that 
all southern ladies knew how to make a good hot 
whisk\' toddy. There was a large kettle of hot water 
over the fireplace. The daughter brought out a liitle 
tea which she placed in a large pitcher and poured on 
a quantit}- of hot water, then Mrs. Brooke poured in 
the amount of whisky to suit her taste. ( )ne of them 
drew up a center table in front of the fireplace and 
Mrs. Brooke and myself had just seated ourselves 



beside it when a very loud knock came at the door. 
The daughter opened it and there stood a colonel, the 
grand officer of the da}-, and his adjutant. I arose and 
saluted him. As he stepped in he asked if I was 
Lieut. Harris. I answered, "Yes, .*>ir." He said, " Do 
you know that you are liable to be dishonorabh' dis- 
missed from the service for being outside the lines?" 
I answered in these words: "Colonel, Airs. Brooke and 
mxself were just going to take a drink of hot whisk\' 
toddy, perhaps )'ou and you adjutant would like to join 
us, as we have plent}- for all." Rubbing his hands in 
glee, he said, " Yes, }'es, we would ; it will taste good 
this cold morning." The children set two more chairs 
b\- the table and all four sat down and drank hot todd\' 
and chatted for an hour. At this time the colonel 
said, " Lieut. Harris, we do not like to take you awa\- 
from such pleasant company, but we must go and 
would like to have }ou escort us to your camjj." 
" Certainl)'," I said, as we bade Mrs. Rrooke and her 
famil}- good-bye, and thanking her for her kindness to 
us we mounted and rode to m\' camp. I ordered 
dinner for all three of us and to have the liorses fed. 
After a very enjoyable dinner the}- looked o\er the 
ground in and about my camp. The}- complimented 
me very highl}- in the selection, and its being so near 
the post where danger might be expected ; also on my 
sending six men and a corporal to the house near the 
ford, these men being relieved ever}- twent\--four hours. 
He also complimented me on sending out m\- reliefs 
ever}- hour, not onl}- on account of the cold but as a 
patrol. The}' then mounted and rode awa}-. 

65 



I never heard anything more about being dis- 
missed from the service for being outside the lines. 
I have alwa)-s thought that the hot whisky todd)' saved 
me. The ne.xt morning after riding my line and see- 
ing that everything was all right, I rode out to see 
Mrs. Brooke again, and passed a very pleasant hour 
or more with them. 1 took out several articles of 
eatables to them, among the rest was part of a codfish. 
I apologized to her for doing so, saying that I was 
well aware most southern ladies almost despised that 
Yankee dish. She said she had learned to like it 
while at school in Philadelphia ; that she had attended 
a young ladies boarding schoo4 there for three years, 
also that one of her classmates, and part of the time 
her room-mate, was Mrs. Jefferson Davis (then the 
wife of the president of the Southern Confederacy). 
She also informed me that her husband was a captain 
in the rebel arm\', and that he was then a prisoner in 
Old Capitol prison ; that he was captured by our folks 
while at home sick. She said he had a relative (a 
sister, I think), living in Washington. I told her that 
I would try and get him parolled within the limits of 
the Cit\- of Washington, with the privilege of boarding 
with his relative. I then bade the famih' good-bye 
and rode back to m\- camp in good time for dinner. 
This was the last time I ever saw Mrs. Brooke or any 
of her familw 

In the afternoon, about three o'clock, an officer 
came from camp with an order to me from Lieut. -Col. 
Gould to turn over my command to him and for me to 
report to him (Gould) that evening. I turned over 

66 



m\- command as ordered, and mounting ni}- horse 
reached camp about dusk. 

I reported to Col. Gould immediatel)', and he 
handed me an order to appear before the examining 
board of the cavalr}' corps the next da)' at ten o'clock. 
I knew at once that this was the work of my arch 
enem\'. Col. R. A. Alger. It was well understood in 
the army that it was equal to being dismissed from 
ser\ ice to be ordered before such a board. I\Ian\- 
officers, rather than go before an\' of these boards, 
would resign. But I was not made of that kind of 
stuff. So the next morning I ciressed up in m}- dress 
suit and rode over to the headquarters of the board. 
I was soon ushered into the room where the board was 
sitting. On entering the room I saw to my great sur- 
prise that the president of the board was Brig. -Gen. 
Henry E. Davies, with whom I had spent, a few da^'s 
before, so pleasant an afternoon, together with his 
family and Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin. Of course, he did 
not recognize me, nor 1 him, as e\er ha\ing met or 
seen each other before. All the other officers com- 
posing the board were strangers to me. I stepped 
near the center of the room and came to " attenti -n '' 
and saluted each member of the board. I stood at 
"attention " waiting for some order from the president. 
Soon the recorder asked ni)' name, regiment, rank, etc. 
After answering each of these questions the General 
asked one of the other officers to begin the examina- 
tion. He began b\' asking me questions about sabre 
practice and motions. I said, "General, 1 did not 
think it proper to wear my sabre before the board to 

67 



be examined for dismissal, but if you will allow me to 
use your sabre I will go through the sabre manual." 
He directed one of the officers to hand me one, at the 
same time said about as follows : " Lieutenant, it is 
possible for an officer to be ordered before this board 
and not be dismissed." I bowed respectfully to him 
in answer to his remark. I took the sabre and went 
through the manual without a mistake. Then the)' 
asked about the evolutions of a compan\' and regiment 
on drill and in action, etc., all of which I answered 
correctly. Then a major (a member of the board) 
thought he would have a little fun with me, and began 
to ask me burlesque questions. I ver}- gentlemanly 
parried each one with a burlesque answer, much to the 
amusement of the rest of the board. He then asked 
me how much weight a soldier should put in his 
stirrups. I quickly answered " one-third." The officers 
looked at each other, thinking the\- had caught me. 
The Major asked where I got that from. I said, "from 

Colonel ." He asked where I knew him. I said, 

"he used to be of our regiment." All the 

officers of the board broke out in a loud laugh at the 
Major's expense. (The officer I referred to was the 
butt of many a joke). Some of the officers said, 
" Major you are sold." As soon as the General could 
get his face straightened he said, " Gentlemen, I have 
no further cjuestions to ask this officer." Each one of 
the others said they had none. He turned toward nu- 
and said about these words : " Lieut. Harris, I wish 
to compliment \ou on your examination. You ha\e 
passed the best one of all the officers that have been 



before us, and 1 wish to sa\- to you that some officers 
are recommended for dismissal and some are not. We 
will now excuse you." I bowed m\- thanks to him for 
the compliment, then standing erect, I saluted them 
and bidding them good da}-, turned on my heel and 
marched out of the room. No sooner had I closed 
the door than a loud peal of laughter came from the 
room. AI\' o\\ n pent-up feelings gave vent to laughter 
and to tears at the same time. I mounted my horse 
and clapped spurs into his flanks. I was ver\- soon in 
the tent of my old friend, Lieut. -Col Gould. I told 
him all about the examination. He said, " Lieutenant, 
\-ou are all right." He was very much pleased at the 
way I had answered their burlesque questions. I soon 
mounted again and rode to m\- own tent. I gave my 
horse into the care of one of m}- men and went into my 
tent and had just seated myself before a good fire in 
the fireplace, which some of my men had thoughtfully 
built for me, when the orderh" of Col. Gould burst into 
the door w ith a broad grin on his face and said, " Col. 
Gould wants \ou to come right up to his tent as he has 
good news for \ou." We went almost on the run, and 
I was soon inside the Colonel's tent. He was standing 
and holding a letter in his hand, which he swung over 
his head and said, " Hurrah I Lieutenant, I told nou 
\ou were all right." Passing me the letter, said, " read 
that," which was almost word for word as follows : 

"LiEUT-COL. E. Gould. Commander Fiftli Michigan Cavalry : 

" Sir— Lieut. Samuel Harris appeared before our board today. He passed a 
most excellent examination. The board has unanimously recommended him for 
further promotion. Respectfullv, 

•• HENRY E. D.AVIES: 
" Brig.-Gen. and President of the Hoard." 



Col. Gould was general 1)- a very sedate man, not 
given much to show, but if any outsider could have 
seen us at this time, they would have thought we were 
two bo)'s about sixteen )'ears old. Our ecstac}' was 
almost unbounded. At the suggestion of Col. Gould, I 
wrote a letter to the board thanking them for their 
compliment. I asked Col. Gould if he could think of 
any other move that m\- arch enemy. Col. R. A. Alger, 
could make to anno>' me. He said, "No, }'ou have out- 
generaled him in ever\- move he has made, and if he 
knows what is best for him he will quit." I took par- 
ticular pains to let Hon. Zachariah Chandler, Senator 
from Michigan, and the Honorable John F. Uriggs, 
Member of Congress from the Saginaw District, as well 
as Hon. A. C. Baldwin, Member of Congress from the 
Pontiac District, know of the course Col. Alger was 
taking with me; and also some other officers in the 
regiment. Col. Alger was doing all in his power to get 
promoted to brigadier-general, and I was doing all 1 
could to prevent his having that honor; and I sincccdcii 
with the help of others. He was never })iadc a brii^trdier. 
The strain I had been under for the past twenty-four 
hcnirs had unnerved me more than an\- engagement I 
had ever been in, and was laid up for the next ten days 
unfit for even camp dutw Hut soon I recovered, and 
took my regular turn on picket and other duties. From 
this time, (about Januar>- lOth until Februar\- 27th) 
nothing unusual occurred. In the evening of Feb. 27th 
Lieut. -Col. Gould sent for me to come to his tent. ( )n 
reporting to him, 1 received an order to take command 
of twent\-five men from Comi)an}' K of our regiment. 



and to report at 12 o'clock that night to C"ol, Ulric 
Dahlgren at Stevensburg. I protested most earnest!)' 
against the order, but no use. Then I urged him to let 
me take t\vent\--five men from my compan\-. But 
nothing would do but that I must take Compan\- K. 
He said, 'T want \'ou to get some fighting out of them." 
I reported on time, and found that we were part of a 
detachment consisting of four hundred men; as I now 
remember, one hundred from each of the following 
ca\alry regiments: Second New York, Fifth New 
York, First Vermont and the Fifth Michigan. 

This expedition was for the purpose of trying to 
release our men who were held as prisoners in Libb\ 
Prison and on Belle Isle. We marched direct for Fly's 
Ford, arriving before daxlight. One compan\' dashed 
across the ford and captured all the guards. Then the 
rest of the column followed. We flanked the right of 
Lee's arm}\ We marched day and night, hardly 
stopping long enough to make coffee and feed the 
horses. The men had no sleep the night we started, 
and we kept on the march all the next day and night. 
More than half the men were asleep on their horsc-s. I 
slept soundly at least half the night while marching. 

I'Larly in the morning of the second da\' we came 
out on a large camp of rebel artillerw We M'ere halted 
in the woods in plain sight of the camp to give time for 
our scouts to see where we were. The onl\- thing we 
could do was to take the road and march i)ast the 
camp. The road was not more than twent\- rods from 
the camp, and not a fence or bush to conceal us in 
the least. Our boldness took awa)- all suspicion that we 



were Yankees. Some of the gunners were practicing 
at a mark be\ond us. The)' even stopped firing until 
our column was b\', so as not to do any damage to us. 
Just as soon as we were out of sight from this camp, 
some of the men in front climbed up the telegraph 
poles and destro}'ed the line so they could not notify 
Richmond ahead of us. About a mile from camp we 
picked up in the road two or three soldiers. From 
them Dahlgren learned that the colonel in command of 
the camp and most of the of^cers, were in a house 
about a mile ahead of us. When the head of the 
column reached this house, the)' surrounded it and 
captured all the officers, which were taken along with 
us; leaving six or eight girls behind. That night all the 
prisoners were turned loose. As this was the third 
night without sleep, the Colonel halted to give the men a 
chance to make coffee and get a little sleep. We were 
off before da)', Soon we reached the James River road. 
To the astonishment of Col. Dahlgren, we were full 
twent)'-five miles above Richmond and about three 
miles above the residence of Mr. J. A. Seddon, the rebel 
secretar)' of war, which is named Goochland. 

Col. Dahlgren and Major Cook were ver)' much 
exasperated to find the)' were so far above Richmond 
as the)' claimed the guide promised to bring them out 
on the Janu's Ri\'er, not over ten miles above Rich- 
mond, where there was a ford the)' could cross to the 
north side of the river. The)' iumj:)ed at tin- conclu- 
sion that the Negro guide had l)etra\ed them and had 
purposely misled them. The)' ordered him hung u]) to a 
limb of a tree which was done by a lariot rope. As the 



column passed along some of the bo}-s threw flour in 
his face saying, "There, \ou are a white man, no 
colored man ever betra)cd us." This guide was a ver)- 
intelligent half-blood colored man. I had m)' doubts 
then, and still have the same, whether this guide inten- 
tionally or treacherousl)- misled us. We were marching 
da\' and night, and keeping off the main roads as much 
as possible b\' taking b)-roads and cow paths. Part of 
the nights were pitch dark, especiall}' when going 
through the woods. Under these circumstances I con- 
sidered then, and do now, that the guide done remark- 
abl\' well to bring us out to within about fifteen miles 
of the point aimed at in a march of nearl}- two hundred 
miles. I will state that I was about in the middle of 
the column and knew nothing of the guide's being 
hung, until we came to the spot some minutes after. A 
march of nearly two miles brought us to the residence 
of Mr. Seddon, the rebel secretary of war. 

Here the column halted My compan)- was directl}- 
opposite the house, and not more than one hundred 
feet from the front porch. It was a large, old stN'le 
Virginia mansion, with a wide porch across the front, 
and four large stone columns. 

We had been here but a few moments, when I 
heard a noise in the house like the breaking of glass, 
and at the same time I heard a woman scream. I 
looked to see that all m\' men were in rank, and saw 
they were I then jumped from my horse and ran up 
on the porch, just as I was stepping upon the end of 
it, a man ( one of our men ) came out of the door with a 
doul)le barrel shot isun, and struck it airainst one of the 



columns. 1 hollered to him to stop, but not quick 
enough. The barrels broke in two and proved to be 
made of fine wire. I stepped to the door and looked 
into the house, but did not go in. As I stood looking 
in the door, Mrs. Seddon came and said to me, "Your 
men are pillaging my house and breaking m)' furniture. 
Won't >ou stop it?" 1 said to her, "Madam, the)' are 
not ni}' men. If they were they would come out of 
there or I would shoot them. There is Col. Dahlgren, 
the commander, go to him." She ran to the 
Colonel and made her appeal. With what success 1 do 
not know. I immediately went back to my horse and 
mounted. One of my men went to the barn in the rear 
of the house, and found a fine full-blooded Kentuck\- 
horse and brought him out and gave him to me. It 
was the most beautiful horse I had ever seen. 1 put 
one of ni)' men on it with orders to take good care oi 
him as I might need it. We soon started on the road 
to Richmond. Between the Seddon mansion and the 
river was a large grist-mill with a saw- mill attached. 
These were driven by about a one hundred horse-power 
steam engine. These mills were fired in several places. 
A few steps further and we were on the bank of the 
James river canal. Here we found two or three canal 
boats loaded with corn meal and lumber from the mills 
we had just burned. These were all burned. Dow n the 
canal tow path we went as fast as our liorses would 
stand. Soon we came to an at]ueduct over a small 
stream. It was built of large stone. I was directed to 
see that it was destro\cd as much as possible. We had 
no tools for such work. It withstood m\- best efforts. 



The column had continued on its march, so I was com- 
pelled to abandon further efforts for its destruction, 
and catch up with the column. Soon after this we left 
the tow path for the river road. We kept on a steady 
march until about four o'clock, when we came to the 
outer breast works of Richmond. Here we halted long 
enough to make coffee and feed the horses. While 
here Col.Dahlgren sent a lieutenant and about ten men 
to communicate, if possible, with Gen. Kilpatrick. I 
am very doubtful whether any of them lived to get 
through. Soon after this we were ordered to mount. I 
was ordered to take the rear as rear guard. The head 
of the column charged over the outer breastworks and 
drove out a few scattering men behind them. We 
passed down the river road a little over a mile, when 
the column halted. 1 heard considerable firing up at 
the head. Ver}' soon all the men in front of me broke 
ranks and rode up to the fence on the right hand, 
which the)' threw down, and then rode into the woods. 
M\' own men started to do the same, but I halted them 
and held them in ranks in the road. 1 directed four or 
five of the right hand men to dismount and throw down 
the fence so we could get into the woods in a hurry if 
necessar}-. I held ni)' men in position, well knowing 
that if the head of the column was dri\en back, it would 
be a great help to them to have a compan\ in 
position to reform behind. |ust at this time 1 saw an 
officer riding back toward me as fast as he could come. 
When he reached me he said, "Lieut. Harris, Col. 
Dahlgren sends his compliments to \"ou and re([uests 
)'ou to charge right down the road." (Ji)on receixing 



this order, the first thing I did was to order the bo)- 
who was on the horse captured from the Seddon's, to 
fall out and to sta\' right there as I might want the 
horse. I then gave the order to draw sabre, forward, 
march, trot, and to charge, each in succession. The 
boys )elled like demons, and the boys in the woods 
yelled and cheered us on. I did not k/unc icherc I was 
goi)ig, or zuhat, iv/to, or June Jiiany I was cJiarging. 

About ten rods from the rebs was a bend in the 
road. As I came around this bend 1 could see that the 
enemy, mostl\', were behind a rail fence. As I came in 
sight around the bend they fired a volley at us. I do 
not think that one shot hit any of us. Ever\' shot went 
over. I continued on until right in among them. 
Then another volle\- was given us. 1 was fully ten 
feet in advance of any of ni)' men. This volle\' came 
from both sides of the road and seemed to be aimed at 
me. 1 was hit in the left shoulder by a ball .79 in 
diameter, or over three-quarters of an inch. It broke 
ni)' collar bone and fractured m)' shoulder blade. 

( Note — When 1 took off my overcoat I found 
there were thirteen ball holes through it, and found 
two through m\- hat. Just as this voile}' came, the 
bo)- 1 had put on the captured horse rode up b\' my 
side. The horse was hit in the forehead and dropped 
dead. The bo)' was hit fi\e times, one ball breaking 
the bone in his arm. We left him in Mr. Green's 
house). 

When I saw the rebs were behind a fence, 1 put back 
m\ sabre and drew my revohcr from m\' right boot 
leg. I held (he bridle reins in ni\ left hand. The 



instant I was wounded my left arm drop])e(l b\- m\' 
side useless. I put m\- revoUcr back in ni)' boot and 
caught the reins in my right hand. I continued on at 
the head until we had passed the fence twenty or thirt\- 
feet. The moment the rebs had fired the second vollc\- 
they broke and ran for the rear as fast as they could 
go. I now turned over the command to a second 
lieutenant and went back to where Col. Dahlgren was. 
With him were Major Cook and Capt. Hasting of the 
Fifth Michigan. The\- all complimented me \-cry 
highly on the charge and for the conduct of m\ men. 
Not a man flinched. 

I give here a photo-engraving of a large painting 
I had made from a sketch made soon after the engage- 
ment. In the )ear iSgi I revisited the field to look it 
over and see if my sketch was correct. All the sur- 
roundings looked natural, except that not one rail was 
left of the fences, but they could all be traced by the 
bushes that had grown up. 

If any member of the Fifth Michigan Cavalry- 
should b}' chance read the above, I want them to 
remember that this charge was made b\' twenty-five 
men from Compan\' K of the Fifth, called the " Dutch 
Compan)'." I don't think twenty-five men ever 
mounted horses that coukl have made a more gallant 
charge. The following is what the rebel j^apers said 

of it : 

I COPY. 1 

The Sentinel, Thursday Moninii;. Miireh ,i. /Soj. 

"The fierceness of the charge which the Dejjart- 
mental Battalion met in line of battle is evidenced b)- 
the sadrc cuts received. .Several of the enem\' rode 



throui^h our lines and were shot down or captured. Of 
the loss sustained by the enem\- we cannot speak with 
positive precision. The}' collected eighteen of their 
wounded at Mr. Green's house, in the rear of the fight- 
ing. Seven of these the\' afterwards carried away 
with them. Four of their dead were picked up on the 
battle ground yesterday morning, as also several 
w^ounded. Of the latter, three died in a few hours, and 
another is evidently mortallx' wounded. Some indica- 
tion of the casualities is given in the ten dead horses 
that lay near here. 

The above article places our loss at double what 
it actual 1\- was. The facts are they lost at least two 
to our one in killed and wounded. We lost none by 
being captured during the fight, while we took over 
fifty prisoners. While during the war I did nothing 
more than hundreds of other officers did, \et I have 
the honor of leading a charge nearer into Richmond 
than an\- other Union officer, and can say that I was 
successful in routing a much larger force than I was 
leading. At the same time I was leaciing the above 
charge Major Cook of the Second New York Cavalr\- 
had taken a force of about two hundred men and 
flanked the rebels on their right. This brought at 
least half the force opposed to us between two fires. 
When they saw this the\' broke and ran, or surrendered. 

Col. Dahlgren said without doubt we would ha\-(.' 
to retreat, and now we could do so with safety. I then 
told the Colonel that I was badl\' wounded. He said 
I had better go over to the surgeon, w ho was in the 
house across the road ( Mr. (ireen's). 

1 went oxer and tound him. I stripped oil so he 
could see m\ wound. He could do nothing tor me. 



except to stop the flow of blood. He then tied ni\- 
silk handkerchief around my shoulder. I put on my 
clothes and told him I should ride as far as I could 
stand it, hoping I might be able to get back to our 
lines. I mounted and rode back to where I had left 
the Colonel and found quite a number of prisoners 
that had been brought in, and several of our men 
guarding them. I sent them all to the front and took 
charge of the prisoners alone. All the prisoners were 
either boys of fifteen to eighteen years old or old men. 
A young fellow about eighteen came up to me and 
asked. "Captain, \ ou aint going to take me along as a 
prisoner, are \ou ? I aint able to walk far." I looked 
down at him and sure enough his looks showed that he 
could not march far. 1 knew that we did not want an}' 
prisoners along in our retreat, so I asked the bo\' how 
far it was tlown to the bank of the ri\-cr. He said. 
" not over ten rods." I then told him to run for the 
bank as fast as he could go. He legged it good. All 
the others (there were t\\enty-five or thirt\' in all) 
asked to follow, and I sent them off one at a time for 
fear some of our men might see them, and not knowing 
the\' had permission to go, would fire at them. 1 
warned them to hug the bank for two hours. By this 
time it had become so dark }'ou could hardl)' see }-our 
hand before you. Col. Dahlgren and several other 
officers returned to the place 1 was, opposite Mr. 
Green's house in the woods. Just at this time we saw 
a rocket go up, aimed at an angle backward, which was 
the signal for us to retreat. 



Col. Dahlij^ren gave the order to retreat, and started 
at the head oi the column. 

■ [COPV.I 

Col. U.ahlgren's M()\"e.mext. 

.Yew York Herald. March Sth. iSb4. 

" It was expected that a party of five hundred 
picked men, under Col. Dahlgren, on hearing Kil- 
patrick's guns would make an advance in another 
direction on the cit}-, but being led by a Negro guide 
to an impassable ford was unable to join the command." 

The above article from the New York Herald is 
ver\' misleading. We did not hear Gen. Kilpatrick's 
guns, nor did a Negro guide lead us to an impassable 
ford. The facts are we were on the same side of the 
river all the time as Gen. Kilpatrick. 

just as we started on the retreat it began to rain 
ver\' hard, and was so dark we could not see the horse 
in front of us. I was riding b\- the side of Capt. Hast- 
ings, at the head of the men from the Fifth Michigan 
Cavalry. Coming to the forks in the road, we discov- 
ered that the column in front of us had entirely disap- 
peared. We called to them but got no answer. Men 
were sent out on each road to try to find them. The\' 
all returned without success. The column had broken 
in two about in the middle. ;\bout one hundred and 
fift\' men were with Col. Dahlgren and about two hun- 
dred w ith us. We were without a guide, and none o{ 
us knew anxthing of the country. After consultation 
we concluded to take the left-hand road, as that was 
more in line of rocket sent up by Gen. Kilpatrick; also it 
would take us outside the breastworks. 

After going four or li\e miles, as we were going up a 



slight hill, we were fired on b\ c[uite a conipan\- ot men 
in a fort on top of the hill by the side of the road. 
Most of the balls went over us; one hit an officer riding 
b\' my side and wounded him quite severely We 
turned around ver\- quickly and got out of range as 
fast as possible. 

After going about two miles, we saw a light in a 
hut b\- the side of the road. We halted, and one of the 
officers went up to the house and called for some one 
to come out. A very intelligent negro made his ap- 
pearance. He told us that we were on the Brock pike 
road, and were headed the right way. He told us we 
had run against a large fort when we were fired on; 
also that quite a large force of rebel cavalrvhad passed 
clown the road the same wa\- we were going but a short 
time before. We moved on four or fi\'e miles and 
turned into a patch of woods on the left of the road, 
and laid down to get a little badly needed rest. We 
had only fairly got into the woods when a force of 
about two hundred rebel cavalry passed by on the road, 
not over one hundred feet from part of our men. 
The}' did not see or hear us It rained very hard until 
about 2 a. m. when it turned into snow. As soon as it 
was daylight, the column started on the march. By 
this time I had become quite; weak from the loss of 
blood and the hard march in the rain. M\- wound had 
become ver\' painful. I, required help to mount m\- 
horse, and ever}- step he took would send daggers 
through me. But the thought of Libb}' Prison would 
nerve me up, to tr}- if possible, to get through to our 
lines. I fell in with the officers of the First Vermont 



Cavalr)' about in the middle of the column. Two or 
three of m)- compan)- found me and rode by my side to 
keep me from falling off my horse. 

After riding in this vva)- about five miles, we came 
to Old Church. Just as we got to the Corners we were 
fired on from ambush, by about one hundred and fift\^ 
men under the command of Col. Bradley T. Johnson. 
The head of the column cut its wa\' through and kept 
right on its waw As the First X'ermont came up, the\' 
had to fight a superior force; while if the head of the 
column had turned about and rendered the assistance 
they could easil\' hi\'e done, the whole force of rebels 
would have been driven o.f or captured. I saw that the 
First Vermont wou'd have all the}- could do to take 
care of themselve; and to get through the ambush. I 
told the officers to abandon me; that if the\- had to 
help me thr > igh, ver\- likel\- some able-bodied men 
would be captured. The result was, all the wounded 
and dismounted men were captured. I among the 
number. 

ICOl'V.I 

Anotiipzr Fight and C.m'Ture of Pkisoneks. 

l\'u liiiioiid Whig — Fi'iday moriihig. Manli 4tli. /A'd^. 

Col. Bradley Johnson encamped at Olci Church, 
Hanover Count}'. Wednesday night. Yesterda}- he 
formed a junction with a small detachment of the 
Ninth Virginia Cavalr}- and attacked the eneni}- again, 
bringing as trophies of his \-ictor\- eight}--odtl prisoners. 

IcorN'.l 
Pkisom-'.ks. 

Rhhtnoud Whig -Saturday i)ii>niiii,i;\ March ^tli. 1864. 

Twent}'-nine more prisoners were registered at 
Libb\- v'csterda}', mostl\- captured at Old Church. They 

83 



belonged chiefly to the Michigan Cavalry. All the 
prisoners have not Net arrived. There are four com- 
missioned officers taken thus far, one of them being the 
lieutenant who led the charge on our men Tuesda\- 
night on the Westham road, near Mr. Green's house. 

I had surrendered to a sergeant. \'er\- soon after 
I had done so, a bo}' belonging to a regiment we had 
been fighting came within ten feet of me and fired at 
mc. I saw what he was up to, and about the time 1 
thought he would fire I dropped on ni}- horse's neck. 
He shot over me, as 1 lad calculated he would. 
Almost instantl}' a man hollered: "Stop that shoot- 
ing." Looking in the direction of the voice I saw an 
officer coming tOAvard us as fast as his horse could run. 
Reining up near me he said, "Who fired that shot at 
this officer?" Xo one answered him (there were at 
least a dozen rebs about me). Then turning to me he 
asked, "Captain, tell me who fired at vou and I will 
shoot him." He held a large rcvoher in his hand, and 
I think he meant just what he said. I declined to 
point him out, sa\ing to the officer that as long as he 
did not hit me to let him go. He then took me to 
Col. Johnson in person. I then learned that the officer 
was Capt. Williams, adjutant to Col. Johnson. The\- 
soon found 1 was badly wounded and used me \ery 
kindl}-. They invited me to dinner with them. In the 
afternoon the\- sent me in charge of a sergeant to a 
house near by w here I had supper, a fair bed to sleep 
in and breakfast the next morning, for which 1 ha\e 
alwa\"s held a very grateful remembrance of Col. 
Johnson (afterwards general), Capt. Williams, and the 



sergeant whose name 1 have forgotten. Then he pro- 
cured a team and lumber wagon with a darkey to ride 
the mule. Filling the bo.x with straw^ and helping me 
into it, we started for Richmond, where we arrived 
about ten o'clock a. m., on Friday, the 4th da)- of 
March. 1864. I was driven direct to the headcpiarters 
of the defences of Richmond, which were in the base- 
ment of a house opposite one corner of the Capitol 
grounds, directl}' across the street from headquarters, 
corner of North and Capitol streets. 

\"er\- soon there was a large crowd collected in 
the street. I ver}' soon found out that they were 
holding a drum head court-martial on me. During 
this time there was a perfect stream of men and boys 
passing b)- the wagon and looking over the sides to 
get a sight at me. Two gra}-haired men, handsomely 
dressed in gray, with gray stove-pipe hats and ruffled 
shirt bosoms, each a fine looking gentleman, came 
along on the sidewalk and looked over the side at 
me, and one said to the other. " It is a pity to hang 
that \-oung fellow." The other answered, " Ves, it 
is too bad." At this time se\'eral in the crowd 
hnljered out, " Now we will see a damned Yankee 
hung in a few moments." I well knew on hearing 
the above that the drum heatl court-martial had 
sentenced me to be hung. Becoming tired ot hav- 
ing so man\' gazing at me, I drew a red silk- 
handkerchief over my face with my right hand. 1 
could see through this but they could hardly see 
me. .Some moments before this I had noticed two 
ladies sitting in an open window o\er the head- 

84 



quarters office and that the\' were looking- down at 
me. I could see them through m\- silk handkerchief 
ver\' plainly, and saw that the\- had made no mani- 
festations of io\- when it became known that I was sen-, 
tenced to be hung. One of the ladies looked about fort\-- 
five and the other eighteen or twenty N-ears old. The 
elder was a fine-looking, well preserved lad\'. bhe 
was sitting in an armchair close to the window. 
The Nounger was a handsome looking girl, with an 
abundance of jet black hair and black eyes. She 
stooci just to the right of the elder and was leaning 
on her right shoulder with her left arm. They were 
still looking right down in my face. The thought ran 
through my mind, " Possibly }'ou are Union ladies." 
An}'wa}' I would find out what their feelings toward 
me were. So I looked them right in the face and 
took hold of m\- handkerchief with m\- right hand 
and watching m\- opportunity, when no one would see 
me, drew it off my face. They both saw the movement 
and that I was looking at them. The \ounger one 
stepped backward, and pulling from her bosom a 
handkerchief, waved it at me. The elder leaned back- 
in her chair and waved her hand. I nodded m\- head 
to let them know that I recognized the act. This 
little act of sympathy was too much for me, and 
instantl\" a perfect flood of tears ran down my cheeks 
in spite of m)- best efforts to hold them back. 

I drew m\- handkerchief back over my face as 
quickl\- as possible, as I did not want an\- of the crowd 
about me to see it. I wiped my face and eses the best 
I could, but kept the handkerchief over m\" face. 



There were three or four men stopped on the sidewalk, 
and one made a remark about my bein^ hung, that 
indicated they were glad of it. This made me mad. 
Uncovering m\- face I said to them in a loud voice, 
"You can hang me but you must remember that Abe 
Lincoln lives up in Washington, and that he has three 
prisoners to your one, and that he will hang three of 
the highest rank he has got for me." This was a 
stunner not only to these men, but to the crowd nearbw 
It showed them that two might play at hanging. Some 
one made the remark, "The damned Yankee is going 
to die game." What I said to them ciid some good, for 
I heard no more ribald remarks about m\- being hung. 
The crowd still continued to pass b\- and gaze at me 
but were much more respectful. 

Not long after the above incident, a ver\- nicely- 
dressed and gentlemanly young man about twent)--four 
years old, having on a captain's uniform, came up on 
the sidewalk and leaning over the side of the wagon, 
asked in a very pleasant voice and manner, "Are \ou 
the ol^cer the}' have here?" 1 said, 'T presume I am 
the one }-ou mean." 

Question — What is your name':' 

Answer —Samuel Harris. 

Question — What regiment are \'ou from? 

Answer — The Fifth Michigan Cavalrw 

Question — What is \'our rank and coaipan\? 

Answer- F'irst Lieuten mt. Company A. 

Question — I want to be sure 1 am right. You sa\- 
you are Samuel Harris, First Lieutenant, Compan\- A, 
Fifth Michi<ifan Cavalrs . 



Answer- Vcs, sir ; that is rii^ht 

He then leaned over close to ni\- head and said, 
"Lieutenant, don't be scared, they are not going^ to 
hang you or hurt a hair of \our head, I assure \ou." 
I started to ask him who he was and b)- what authority 
he said so, but he was gone. I raised up on my right 
elbow^ and looked for him but he was nowhere to be 
seen. He had completely disappeared in the crowd. 
I laid back on the straw and thought over what the 
captain had said to me. His looks and manner as- 
sured me that he was not trifling with me, and that 
he meant just what he said when he told mc "the\- 
are not going to hang x'ou." But if that was true 
wh\- had he disappeared so suddenl}? Wh\- did he 
not tell me by what authority he made this statement? 
Hope and fear raced through my mind at lightning 
speed for the ne.xt half hour. It would be impossible 
by the greatest stretch of imagination for the reader 
-to conceixe of my feelings during this time. At 
length an end came to my doubts and fears. The 
sergeant came up by the side of the wagon with a 
great, broad smile on his face and his e\es just 
sparkling with jo\- and said to me, " Lieutenant, they" 
aint going to hang )ou. 1 have got orders to take 
}-ou to Libb}' Prison, and that \ou are to be used like 
other prisoners of war." 

Libby Prison, with all its horrors, was better than 
being hung. 

Very soon the sc:rgeant ordered the driver to dri\e 
down Capitol street to Libby Prison, where we arri\ ed 
about 4 o'clock in the afternoon on Friday, March 4th, 

87 



iS64- I was in a perfect state of col'apse, caused 
partl\- b\- my wound, which was acltiiia; very badly, not 
having been attended to in any manner for nearly fort}'- 
eight hours, and paril)- from hunger, but mostl\' from 
the terrible ordeal 1 had passed through. They had to 
almost carr)' me into the hospital room on the ground 
floor and lay me on a cot. There were about fifty 
wounded and sick Union ofTficers in the hospital. Not 
one of them thought I would live until morning. Soon 
after I was laid on the cot one of our officers brought 
me a cup of coffee, made out of burning some coarse 
corn bread they had to eat without milk or sugar, to- 
gether with a small piece of corn bread. I can assure 
you it was not ver\' palatable, yet it refreshed me. 
Soon James Watson, a prisoner who was a hospital 
steward in our arm}', and chosen by the rebel surgeon 
to act as hospital steward in the prison, came to me and 
by the free use of warm water soaked my clothes on 
m\' shoulder until he softened the dr)' blood enough to 
get them off. He then dressed my wound the best he 
could for the night. The next morning the surgeon 
came and after examining \\\\ wound said to me, 
''Voung man, you are ver\- badly wounded, and I would 
sa\- there was about one chance in a hundred for you to 
live." 1 looked up at him and said, "Doctor, 1 will take 
that one chance." He laughed and said, "Young 
man \-our cN^es and coimtenance do not look as though 
\'ou ever drank much liquor." 1 replied that 1 had 
drank vc')' little. He said. "Then I will gi\e \ou 
one ch nice in ten to li\e." M\ reply was. "Doctor, 
that is a big improxement," and added, " 1 want 



\-ou to remember that I am going to live to get 
back in Cjod's country." He laughed heartily and 
said, "Keep up \our pluck, and 1 wouldn't wonder 
if it carried you through." He then explained to 
me why my wound was so dangerous. He said the 
ball had laid bare the artery running to m\ arm and if 
the wound did not heal up quickl\- it would cause the 
a ter\- to slough off, and weaken it so much that it 
would burst, and I would bleed to death instantl\-. He 
stood o\'er mc and tlirected Mr. Watson how to dress 
my wound. Not long after the Doctor had left me I 
had some very unexpected callers, consisting of Mrs. 
Seddon, the wife of the rebel secretar)- of war, accom- 
panied by her daughter, a young lady about twenty-one 
)'ears old, and her son who was about sixteen years old. 
The\' were led to m\" cot b\- the adjutant of the prison. 
Mrs. Seddon was angr\- clear through, and began to 
abuse me b\' saying, "Vou are the officer that ortlered 
m\' house sacked. Vou are the one I saw on our porch. 
Vou are the one that ordered the men to break up m\' 
furniture." I got a chance to say, "No, Madam, \ou 
are mistaken." She said, "Ves, \ou are the one, and 
President Da\is has promised me that if 1 can recognize 
\ou as the officer, he would hang )'ou. and I do recog- 
nize )ou as the one." H\- this time she had got clear 
beside herself, and coming closer to m\- cot shut her 
hand and shook it \er\- close to my face, and fairl\- 
N'elled. "Vou are a chicken thief, a horse thief. \()u 
stole mv daughter's riding lujr.Tt'." " Don't, mother, 
don't talk so, \ou forget that \ou are a lady. \ou forget 
this is a wounded officer." Mrs. Seddon. turning to her 



daughter, said, " Let me alone." The young lady 
answered, "Mother, you must not forget that you are a 
lad\-." The daughter actually cried to see her mother 
act as she did. Mrs. Sedd m, turning to me even mo e 
fiercel)' t'lan before, said, 'T recognize you; _\'ou scoun- 
drel, as being the officer that ordered the soldiers to 
sack our house. You are a murderer, for \ou hung 
poor Ned. (Meaning our negro guide). At this time 
the daughter spoke up and said, "Mother, I am positive 
this is not the officer that ordered the men into our 
house. I am sure he is not the one, and I shall tell 
father and President Davis he is not. Come, mother, 
do come avva}-," and she fairl\- pulled her awaw But 
Mrs Seddon must have one more parting salute, and 
shaking her hand in my face said, "We will eelebrate 
the sabbath b\' seeing you gibbeted." They then all 
walked out. 

Ail during the above interview I had hardly said a 
word except two or three times to sa)', "Madam, you 
are mistaken." I saw that I had a ver}' strong advocate 
and defender in Miss Seddon. I wanted to thank her 
for it right there, but well knew it would not do. Yet 
she could not have mistaken my glances at her that 
the}- meant ni)- heartfelt thanks. Young Master .Sed- 
don had stood three or four feet to the left and rear of 
his mother, and from his looks and actions I thought 
sided with his sister. 

The aVjove incident was so (jut ol the usual course 
from anything that had ever happened in Libby Prison 
before, that it s})read all over the prison. ( )ne of our 
officers was exchanged the ne.xt Monday, and gave the 
follow iiig notice to a corres[)()ntlent at I'Hrtress Monroe: 



ICOFVI 
A'rii' \'ork rnhiinc. Friday. Maicli n. 1S04. 

Mrs. Seddon, wife of the rebel secretary of war, 
visited the hospital in Libb\- Prison to identify a 
wounded offieer as connecte 1 with the burning of 
her home. She failed to do this, but abused him in 
unmeasured terms and said they all ou_<^ht to be hung, 
and she should use every exertion to have them hung. 

As soon as Mrs. Seddon and part}' left, the officers 
that were in the hospital gathered about my cot and 
discussed the probability and the possibilities of m\- 
being hung the next day. I can assure the reader that 
it was not a \er)- pleasant subject for me to hear 
talked about. I was completely exhausted from \\\\ 
wound and what 1 had passed through in the last 
forty-eight ho irs. Some of my kind fellow-prisoners 
gave me a cup c^f corn coffee and a piece of corn 
bread for my supper. Soon after I fell asleep and 
slept until the sun was well up the next morning, 
which was Sunday. All that da\' 1 kept my e\es on 
the door expecting to see a file of soldiers come in 
to take me out to be hung. It was a long day to me; 
night came at last, and gladl)' did 1 welcome the dark- 
ness. I slept better Sunday night. Monda\- morning 
about ten o'clock the surgeon came on his morning 
rounds. He came to me first as I was the worst 
wounded under his care. After attending to me he 
went to another part of the room, when a sergeant 
with three or four soldiers came in and marched direct 
to m\' cot. I thought they had come ttj take me out 
to hang me. 1 thought the_\- did not want to desecrate 
the sabbath and had waited until Monda\ mornine. 



Almost instantly the sur«'eon was at mv side and said 
to the seri^eant, "What are \ou doing here?" The 
sergeant answered, *" I have orders from Major Turner 
to take Lieut. Harris and put him in one of the 
dungeons in the basement." The surgeon whipped 
out a big revolver from his hip pocket, and pointing 
it at the sergeant said, " D — n you, get out of here. 
You tell Major Turner to go to h- 1. Tell him not to 
touch Lieut. Harris. If he does he will have to walk 
over my dead bod)' before he gets him in a dungeon. 
He is under my charge and I shall stand hv him." 
The great big-hearted surgeon knew that it would be 
sure death to me within twent\-four hours if he 
allowed mc to be put down in the dungeon. 1 have 
forgotten his name. He lived below Richmond. \'a., 
on the James River. He was over six feet high, well 
built, and a fine looking man. I have thanked him 
many times in my heart for his kindness to me. The 
firm stand he took relieved me from further torment b\' 
three of the meanest and most brutal men that e\-er 
lived — Major Turner, in command of Libb\' Prison. 
Dick Turner and La Touche, who was adjutant of the 
prison. Not long after the above, I was told, on what 
I then thought to be good authorit}' (m\- notes fail to 
state how 1 learned it; m\- impression is that it was 
published in the Richmond Despatch of Monda\ , 
March 7th, I<S64, and that Sergeant Gettx' brought it 
to me unknown to Major Turner), that all of Presi- 
dent Davis' Cabinet called on him the .Saturda\- before, 
and that each and everyone insisted that 1 shouUl be 
hung. President Davis would not consent, but said 



1 should be used as a pristjner of war. T(j show what 
pressure he had to withstand, I give a few copies of 
articles from the Richmond papers. 

RnJinKiiid l\7i/ic — Satiiii/ay iiuininnf. .Xldicli^tli. 1SO4. 

What Shall We Do With Them? 

How will the confederate authorities treat prison- 
ers captured in an attempt to take Richmond f )r the 
purpose of burning it. and murdering the high ofificials 
of the government, who have orders to burn, slay and 
lay waste along the line of their march? The expecta- 
tion was to enter Richmond at night, and the intention 
was to immediatel)' apply the torch. The)' were 
alread}' provided with fire-balls, turpentine and oakum, 
to make the incendiarism speed}- and sure. Had the\ 
succeeded in entering the cit\', and fired it as they 
would have done in a thousand different places, how- 
man}' of its inhabitants would have escaped? What 
chances would there have been for the women and 
children, the old, the infirm and the sick? Or, if the}- 
had escaped the flames, how man}- would have survived 
the inclement night, thrown out into the storm as they 
would have been w-ithout the protection, man}- of them, 
of even ordinar}- clothing? Or, if the\- had survixed 
this, how man}- would have sunk under the slow tor- 
ture of starvation? Shoot horses and cattle, burn 
barns and mills, destroy ever}'thing that sustains life, 
wrap in flames a city of a hundred thousand souls, 
murder the president and his cabinet — this was the 
errand on which these demons came. 

The proof is incontestable. The pockets of one 
of their dead officers furnish the official documents. 
How, we repeat, will the confederate authorities deal 
with miscreants taken in the execution of this sort of 
work? Will the}' treat them as prisoners of war? We 
are ashamed to ask the question, but the feebleness and 
timidity displa}-ed on other occasions reall}' create a 



doubt whether this ma\' not be done. Perhaps, now, 
in a matter so nearly affecting the personnel of the 
government, we shall see a different spirit displayed, 
and ma\- find that our principal authorities begin to 
understand the character of the war, and to be con- 
scious that the)' are the representatives and agents of 
a cause that should respect itself, and should exhibit 
the firmness that springs from conviction. Now or 
never, we must show the eneni)- and the world that 
"we know our rights, and knowing, dare maintain." 
This day's sun should not go ciown before ever}- scoun- 
drel taken in this assassin's work is blown to atoms 
from the mouths of cannon, and every means should 
be emplo}'ed to get the names of as man}- as possible 
of those who have escaped, so t'lat if taken hereafter 
they ma}' be treated in the same wa\-. 

I\u Innuiid \\'hii(. Monday iiioniing^. Manli -. 1864. 

The Captured Bandits. 

Presuming the documents found on the body of 
Uahlgren to be authentic, the whole question of the 
recent attempt to invade Richmond, burn and sack it 
(with all the other horrible concomitants of such a 
scene), can be stated and disposed of in few words. It 
requires no fine disquisition to see our way clear as to 
what should be done with those of the banditti who 
have fallen into our hands. ***** 

Are those men warriors? Are the}- soldiers or are 
they assassins, barbarians, thugs, who have forfeited 
(and expect to lose) their lives. Are they not bar- 
barians redolent of more hellish purposes than were 
e\-er the Goth, the Hun, or the .Saracen? The consen- 
taneous voice of all Christendom will shudderingl}- pro- 
claim them moistcrs, whom no sentimental idea of 
humanit}', no timorous views of expediencN', no trem- 
bling terror of conseciuences, should have shielded them 
from the quickest and the sternest death. * * * 

If we are less powerful, ha\e we less pride and 



self respect than either of these nations. These men 
have put the caput hipiniDtt on themselves. They are 
not victims; the\' are volunteers for remorseless death. 
The\- have rushed upon fate and struggled in v .luntary 
audacit)' with the grim monster. Let them die, not b\' 
court martial, not as prisoners, but as liostcs ]iuinani 
generis, by general order from the president, com- 
mander-in-chief. 

Will the cabinet and president have the nerve to 
do what lies palpably before them? This is the ques- 
tion in all mouths. * * * * * * * 

Khlniioiid Whig, Tuesday mornuig. March S, 1864. 

Features of the Raid. 

* * * The address of Col. Dahlgren to his 
officers and men announces that they were "selected 
from brigades and regiments as a picked command to 
attempt a desperate undertaking." The)' were cau- 
tioned not to leave their ranks too far, or become too 
much scattered, or they would "be lost," that no temp- 
tations of "personal gain " should lead them off, which 
they were assured would only bring them to an " igno- 
minious death." A "desperate fight" was anticipated 
and that man)- would fall, and the privilege was ex- 
tended to any of them, thus forewarned, who was disin- 
clined to engage in the expedition, to "step out and he 
ma}' go home." Thus all became volunteers in this 
lawless undertaking. * * * *- * * 

The)' were distinctl)' ordered to burn mills and 
barns, to destroy "everything which can be used by the 
rebels," on their route, and, arrived at Richmond, the 
Yankee prisoners were to be released, the " city de- 
stro)'ed" and " Jeff. Davis and cabinet killed." In addi- 
tion to usual militar)' equipments, the)' were ampl)- 
provided with "oakum, turjjentine, and torpedoes," to 
complete their work. * * * It is our polic)', if the 
question should ever be raised of its perfect propriet)', 
to deal with these jjrisoners more summarily than with 

95 



others in our hands. Barbarous undertakings like these 
should be so punished, especially upon all engaged in 
them who fall into our hands, as to deter others from 
renewing them. Treated like other prisoners, it but 
encourages such adventures, which have a fascination 
about them. * * ^ * * * * =>= 

The Richmond Despatch was even more blood- 
thirsty than either of the papers quoted from. I have 
done my best to get copies of the Despatch, but have 
utterly failed. I have much to be thankful for to 
Mr. Davis, but much more to be thankful for to his 
estimable wife, as will be seen b}- the following pages. 

About the }'ear 1 8/0 1 visited Rochester, Mich., 
and while there met one of m>- old companw During 
our talk about war times he asked me if I remembered 
Mrs. Brooke, living on the Neck above Germania 
ford. I answered that I remembered her well; that 
I found them on the first day of January, 1864, starv- 
ing to death. He said that the next day after I was 
ordered back to camp he was on the post nearest to 
Mrs. Brooke's house, and that her eldest daughter and 
son came and handed him a letter, asking that it be 
put over the river. After they left he read it (it 
was unsealed). He said it was directed to Mrs. 
Jefferson Davis, Richmond, Va. After telling how 
I had helped her in her dire need, wound up the letter 
with about these words : "If Lieut. Samuel Harris 
should ever fall in your hands, do what you can for 
him, for m\- sake." After reading it he said he knew 
it would not do to give it to the officc^r that succeeded 
me, as he knew he was no frientl of mine. .So after he 



96 



was off duty he went down to the post at the ford and 
called to one of the men on the other side, tellini^j him 
he had a letter he wanted to throw over and to have 
it forwarded as directed. After tying it to a stone 
with a strong string he had brouglit with him, he 
threw it over to the other side of the river. This was 
a revelation to me. I felt sure there was a direct 
connection between this letter and the young captain 
that had leaned over the side of the wagon in which 
I lay in Richmond (see page 87) and said, "Lieut. 
Harris, don't be scared, the}- are not going to hang 
you or hurt a hair of \our head." The more I thought 
of it the more positive I felt that the two were closeK" 
connected, but how was I to solve the myster\-. Iti 
a few da\s I returned to Washington, D. C, where I 
was living. 1 sought the help of some ex-rebel arm\- 
officers with whom I was well acquainted, but soon 
found the\- could not help me. 1 did all in m\- power 
to locate this young captain, and also to find out who 
the t\\ o ladies were that waved their handkerchiefs at 
me, but all m\- efforts came to naught. I thought of 
writing to Mrs. Jefferson Davis, but felt that she as 
well as Mr. Davis were having so much trouble of 
their own that it would hardly be right for me to do so. 
In the spring of 1891 I took m\- wife and daughter 
and went to Richmond ( I was then, as now, living in 
Chicago), determined to locate the captain and two 
ladies, if possible. But I again met with utter failure, 
except that I found the name of the famil\- who occu- 
pied the house from which the two ladies waved their 
handkerchiefs to me. This was a good thing for me, 
yet I returned to Chicago a good deal discouraged. 



In the spring of 1895 ^ determined to try another 
plan. I sent the following advertisement to the Rich- 
mond Times, which appeared in its issue of Sunda)', 
February 17, 1895 • 



VV ANTED — Address of middle-aged lady or her 
' ' daughter (name supposed to be \'alentiiie) 
who lived opposite the Capitol Groundsill March, 
1864, who sat near a window and waved her hand- 
kerchief at a wounded Federal officer who lay in a 
wagon under her window. .Address Samuel Har- 
ris. 36 South Canal St., Chicago 

I received the following letter in answer to the 
above: 

Richmond, Feb. i8th, 1895. 
Mr. Harris, Sir - 

Seeing your odd advertisement in the Times, re- 
minded me of something that happened at that time. 
We had moved here from the North in i860, ni}' hus- 
band and self, young married people. In 1863, my 
husband bought a farm about thirty miles, from here, 
and in March, '64 I came to town to make some much 
needed purchases. Whilst in town I remained with a 
family named Meyer. The lad}' often accompanied me 
on my rounds. One day she wished to call and see a 
friend who was staying at the Valentine's. So we 
called and were shown to the lady's room; as she was 
in another part of the house at the time. We sat at the 
open window, it being mild weather, to wait for her. 
As we sat there we saw a sick or wounded soldier look- 
ing so badly that we both pitied him, and quietl)' waved 
our handkerchiefs to him as he lay in the wagon, and 
we both said that he would never see his home again, 
like oh! so man)- others. But now I suppose he must 
have lived. Of course I do not know if this is the inci- 
dent you allude to; perhaps some other ladies might 
have waved their handkerchiefs also to the same man, 
nor can I guess wh)' you adx'crtise on the subject; but 



when I saw the ad, it brought back that da\' to mv 
mind so fresh, that I decided to write to you. 

Yours respectful!)'. 

Margaret Garcin, 

2318 E. Broad St. 
The foHowing is m\- answer to the above letter; 

Feb. 20, '05. 
Mrs. Margaret Garcin, 

2318 P^ast Broad .St.. Richmond. Va. 
Madam: — 

Yours of the i8th at hand and I am glad to get it. 
I will answer the last of your letter first. You say you 
cannot imagine wh}- I put that odd advertisement in the 
paper. I have spent a good deal of mone\' and time to 
find these two ladies. I lay in the wagon condemned 
to be hung, as I was the first officer captured out of 
Col. Dahlgren's command. It was while I was l\ing in 
the wagon expecting to be hung in a few moments that 
the two ladies gave me sympathy, b}' the older one 
waving her hand, and the N'ounger waving her handker- 
chief. That little act of s\'mpathy has never bjen for- 
gotten by me. I have been to Richmond once, and did 
my best to get track of them, but failed. M\' dear 
Madam, it w^ould be impossible for \'ou to begin to 
appreciate my feelings to have sympath)' shown me at 
such a time. It almost seemed to me that two angels 
had dropped down from heaven, and I have thought of 
them a thousand times since. I shall start for Rich- 
mond as soon as I am able to travel, say about the 15th 
of March, to trace these ladies, and I think without 
doubt you are one of them. If you are the right one, 
I shall be glad to spend the time and money to take 
you by the hand and thank you for the act done thirt\- 
one years ago. It was an act I never shall forget as long 
as I live. 

Ver)' sincerely, 

Samuel Harris, 
Late 1st Lieut. Co. A., 5th Mich.Cax. 

L.ofO. 



About the ist of April I started for Richmond b\- 
wa)' of New York, where I bouglit some presents for 
Mrs. Garcin, if she should prove to be the younger of 
the two ladies I was seeking. Arriving at Richmond 
in the morning I went to Murph\''s hotel, on Broad 
street. After breakfast I called a carriage and drove 
to No. 2316 East Broad street. In answer to the ring a 
ver\- pleasant \-oung lad\' came to the door. I asked 
her if Mrs. Margaret Garcin lixed there. She said she 
did, and asked me to step in and take a seat in the par- 
lor, and excusing herself for a moment said she would 
call her mother. She soon returned and said h.r 
mother woulci be in in a few moments. I asked her if 
she was a daughter of Mrs. Garcin. .She said she was 
a daughter-in-law, the wife of Dr. Garcin — a son of 
Mrs. Garcin. I then gave m\- name as Lieut. Harris of 
Chicago. She said, "I thought it was )'ou when I 
opened the door." At this moment Mrs. Garcin came 
in. I arose to greet her, and without an\- hesitation 
said, "You arc the young lad\- that waved her handker- 
chief to me while I la}' in the wagon. You have the 
same form, face, black eyes and black hair. J know 
}ou are the one." We sat down and talked about that 
day a little over thirt)'-one )'ears ago. I had carried 
her likeness in m\' minci's e\'e all these Ncars, and Mrs. 
(iarcin was the perfect duplicate in e\er\' respect. 
I felt sure she was the Noung lady I wa,s looking for. 
Then during our conversation she related several inci- 
dents that no other i)erson would ha\'e known ans thing 
about, which removed any doubt as to her identit} . 

The)' both said they had all imagined 1 was a little 



dried-up old man. Thc\' w ere very much surprised to 
see a six-footer, ver\- much ah've, full-blooded Yankee 
present himself as Lieut. Harris. Mr and Mrs. Garcin 
and their son, Dr. Ramon D. Garcin, and wife live 
together. During- an hour's ver\- pleasant conversa- 
tion, I learned that )Oung Mrs. Garcin was formerly 
Miss E fdie Jackson of Charlottesville, Va., and that 
her father was own cousin to Gen. fackson. I asked 
her if she could help me get copies of the Richmond 
papers of March, 1864. .She said she was acquainted 
with the editor of each paper. Putting on her wraps 
we got into the carriage and dro\e to the office of the 
Despatch. The editor extended to her a ver\' cordial 
greeting. She introduced me as her " Friend, Capt. 
Harris of Chicago." I had cautioned her beforehand 
not to sa)' that I was one of the hated Dahlgren men. 
She then said that I wanted to see the files of the 
Despatch of March, 1864. He informed us that they 
were all burned in the conflagration of 1865 ; also that 
we would find files of all the papers that were saved in 
the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth at 
the Capitol. It was past dinner hour, and to sa\e time 
we drove to Murphy's hotel and got dinner, then direct 
to the Secretar)''s office, in the Capitol. While we 
were waiting for the elexator the Governor of \'ir- 
ginia came in, and seeing Mrs. (iarcin extended to 
her a xery warm greeting. .Soon we were in the 
.Secretar)''s office. He came forward immediatelx', 
extended his hand to Mrs. (iarcin and said, "How 
do \'OU do, laddie? What brings }'ou here?" .She 
then introduced me as her " I'^riend, Capt. Harris." 



and said, " He wants to look over the files of the 
Richmond papers of March, 1864." He answered, 
" Certainly, you can have anything you want. Your 
friend must be all right or \'Ou would not be with 
him." He then called his assistant and directed him 
to render us all the aid he could. We were soon in 
the file room hunting o\er the papers for the articles 
relating to the Dahlgren raid. Mrs. Eddie Garcin was 
much interested in hunting for the articles. As we 
found such as I wanted copied, I marked them, the 
assistant secretary making typewritten copies of same, 
which are inserted in this book. Mans- thanks to Mrs. 
Eddie Garcin, formerl)' Miss Eddie Jackson, for her 
assistance in getting them. I doubt very much whether 
I should have been able to procure them without it. 
I took Mrs. Garcin to her home and drove back to 
the hotel. I was stopping at Murph\'s hotel. 1 soon 
found that the proprietor had been an officer in the 
arm\'. I found him and said, "Col. Murph\-, I am told 
you were an officer in the arm}'." He said, "Yes, I was 
an officer in the artillerw" "Then )'ou must have 
smelled powder?" "Yes, and plent}' of it, and I see 
you were an officer in )our army, and you must have 
smelled powder or \ou could not wear that button." 
(meaning the Loyal Legion button I wore). "Yes, I 
was an officer in the Fifth Michigan Cavalry, and I 
have smelled some powder." I then told him I would 
like a few moments talk in private with him. We sat 
down in one corner of the room, and I told him my 
name and that I was the officer \\ho led the charge at 
Green's farm on the Dalgren raid, and that I was the 



officer they were going to hang on the 4th of March, 
1864. Col. Murphy said he was in Richmond that day 
and remembered the circumstances well, "But," he said^ 
"I never knew wh}' you were not hung." I told him that 
was one of the things that brought me to Richmond- 
I then told him about the )-oung captain's visit to me 
as I lay in the wagon, and described him the best 1 
could. I asked him if he could tell me who he was. 
The Colonel unhesitatingly said, "That was Capt 
Waller," and in proof said, "Capt. Waller was the only 
ofificer in the confederac}- that could dress like that," 
and to give me further proof, he called to a gentleman 
standing near by, and introduced him as a major in a 
Virginia cavalry- regiment. He described the captain 
and his clothes, and asked him who he thought it 
was. He answered quickly, "Capt. Waller, no other 
officer did or coidd dress like him." I asked Col. 
Murphy where I could find Capt. Waller. He answered 
that he had died two years before. Capt. Waller was 
the only man I knew of who could unravel the myster\-, 
and to find he was not living was a big blow to my 
hopes. As a last hope I determined to interview Mrs. 
Jefferson Davis, but found she was living in New X'ork 
Cit}'. Mrs. Margaret Garcin had invited me to take 
dinner with them. 1 went to their home earl)', taking 
her present with me. I spent a very pleasant time 
with them. Leaving earl\- in the evening I went to ni)' 
hotel, paid ni)- bill, and left for Chicago on the evening 
train. Not long after my return, I received the follow- 
ing lines written by Mrs. Margaret Garcin, whicii are 
so appropriate that I insert them by her permission: 



A Soldier of '64. 

Some 3'ears ago, when the Civil War 
Divided North and South afar, 
Arranged that all must wear a tear, 
Oh ! Sad the day, and sad the \ear. 

Once upon a mild March day 

Years ago, long )'ears ago, 

A soldier lay bound and doomed to be hung 

Before the set of another sun. 

How sad his heart — as he looked around. 
And knew that his hands and feet were bound 
In an enem)''s land, in enemies hands. 
Oh! Would that he could break his bonds. 

But no, he was caught, the deed was done, 
And he, the brave soldier, was now to be hung. 
He thought of his parents, and thought of his home 
And thought of himself. Oh I How forlorn. 

To die in his youth, in his manhooci ga\'. 
And Oh! To die in this awful wa\'. 
Our Father in Heaven, forget him not quite. 
But pit}' his weakness in th\- might. 

At length he glanced across the way. 
And at a window standing. 
Strange to relate, a sight he saw 
That set his wits awandering. 

A lad)' looked toward him 

With pity in her eyes, 

Alas! She thought, "my brothers l)oth 

Perhaps, are doomed to die " 

She could but wave her 'kerchief. 
Yet that was sympathy. 
It filled his heart with faintest hope. 
Indeed if not with glee. 



Hut time passed on, he was not hung, 
His pardon came ere set of sun, 
But the lad}'s act was stored awa}- 
To be remembered man\- a day. 

The war was o'er; time passed awa\-. 
And hearts that ached, again were gay, 
And he whom fate had treated so 
Made his home in Chicago. 

He oft with grateful feeling 
Thought of the one who waved 
And showed her kindly feeling 
When he was near his grave. 

And thought he'd like to meet her 
And take her b\- the hand. 
To let her know that he was 
Still living in the land. 

The years rolled on till thirt\- passed. 
Yes, thirty-one and more 
Ere he saw the lad}- who waved to him 
The day when his heart was sore. 

The soldier went to Richmond 
In the \'ear '95 

And there he found the lady 
Who was both brisk and alive. 

He told her that he never 
As long as life would last. 
Could he forget the little act 
She done long in the past. 

His grateful feelings found a vent 
In giving her a present. 
It was a l)Owl for berries meant 
And three saucers made of crxstal. 



In about a month after my return from Richmond, 
Va., I had m\- business so arranged that I could leave 
for a short time. I went to New York to see Mrs. 
Jefferson Davis. I was quite doubtful whether she 
would receive me, being an entire stranger to her, 
unless accompanied by some personal friend of hers. 
I went to Col. Fred. Grant and laid my case before 
him as briefly as possible, and asked him to go with 
me as I knew the Grants and Mrs. Davis were warm 
personal friends. He said he would go in a moment 
if Mrs. Davis was in New York, but that she was at 
Narragansett Pier, and that he could not spare the 
time to go there with me; but he gave me a letter to 
Mrs. Davis which he thought would give me a favor- 
able reception by her. 

The following is a cop\- of his letter : 

New York, Sept. 3 1895. 
My Dear Mrs. Davis— 

The bearer, Lieut. Sam'l Harris, is very anxious 
to learn something upon a matter which, in my opinion, 
is so creditable to your kindness of heart, that I have 
advised him to call upon you in person. 

I trust, m\- dear Madam, that ) ou will recei\'e h'im. 
I am, my dear Mrs. Davis, 

Respectfully your friend. 

Frederick D. Grant. 

Armed with this, I left the next morning for the 
pier, where I arrived about four o'clock in the c-vening. 
I sent my card up to Mrs. Davis. .Soon her maid came 
down, saying Mrs. Davis was not in her room. 1 asked 
her to please find Mrs. Davis, and sa\' to her that I had 
come over twelve hundred miles to see her. Soon 



10»i 



Mrs. Davis came down to the general reception room. 
After introducing m}self to her, I said I had come all 
the \va\- from Chicago to thank her for a kind act she 
had done me during the war. " What did I ever do 
for you?" she asked. "Mrs. Davis, I have no doubt 
but that you saved me from being hung." "Why, 
when was that?" she quickly answered. I then told 
her I was the first officer captured from the Dahlgren 
raid, and was sentenced by a court martial to be hung 
in Richmond on the 4th of March, 1864, and that I 
felt sure she saved me. She asked, " O, are you one 
of those horrid Dahlgren men that was going to kill 
Mr. Davis and all his cabinet?" " No, Mrs. Daxis," 
I said, " }ou are mistaken. Do I look as though I 
would kill an\bod}' now?" She burst out laughing and 
said, "What a question to ask; of course you don't." 
I said, " I would do it now just as quick as I would 
then." At this time 1 handed her the letter from 
Col. Grant. She adjusted her specks and read it. 
Turning to me she said, " Then )-our are a friend of 
the Grants." I replied, " hardl)- in the way )'ou mean. 
I am onl)' an arm\' friend of the Colonel's, and felt at 
perfect libert\' to go to him for a letter of introduc- 
tion." This letter placed me in a more favorable light 
with Mrs. Davis, and we had a ver\' pleasant hour's 
conversation, mostly trxing to directl\- connect her 
with my not being hung. I told her about Mrs. 
Brooke, how I had found them starving and helped 
them, and that Mrs. Brooke had told me she had been 
at school with her in Philadelj)hia, and about the letter 
one of my men said he had put over the river directed 

107 



to her, and also about Capt. Waller coming to me. In 
answer to my statement she said: " I did go to school 
in Philadelphia for three xears when a 3'oung lad\'," 
and that one of her most intimate friends, and part of 
the time her room-mate, was a }oung lady from 
Virginia, but she could not recall her name, nor could 
she place her as Mrs. Brooke. She said that Capt. 
Waller was on Mr. Davis' staff, and without doubt it 
was he that came to me; also that Capt. Waller was 
her brother-in-law, having married her \'oungest sister. 
I said to Mrs. Davis that she had proven be\-ond an\' 
doubt in my mind the direct connection between 
the letter that Mrs. Brooke had written to her and 
which one of my men had put across the river, and 
Capt. Waller coming to me as he did, and 1 was 
equally sure that Capt. Waller was sent through her 
influence, and that I was now positive it was she who 
saveci m\' life. She answered, "Capt. Harris, it looks 
as though \-our conclusions were correct. When you 
get home if you will write me full\' about Mrs. Brooke 
and Capt. Waller, and send me the maiden name of 
Mrs. Brooke, I think I can recall most, if not all, the 
facts." She said, " Vou must remember that it is over 
thirty years since this happened, and 1 have passed 
through a great deal of trouble." I bade her good-bye 
and taking the next train returned to Chicago, feeling 
that I had solved the mystery of what, and who, saved 
me from being hung. I immediately set to work try- 
ing to find Mrs. Brooke or some of her famil). I 
wrote to ever)' postmaster withim twenty-five miles of 
Germania Ford. I received an answer from the post- 

108 



master at Culpepper, Va., sa\ing that a daughter of 
Mrs. Brooke was the wife of John C. Wise, Surgeon 
U. S. Nav\\ stationed at the Navy Yard, Washing- 
ton, D. C. I immediatel)' wrote to him and soon 
received an answer, dated October 5th, 1895, stating 
that Mrs. Brooks had died in the \ear 1888, and that 
her maiden name was Maria Ashby, daughter of Capt. 
John Ashby and cousin to Gen. Turner Ashby. 

October 15th, 1895, I wrote Mrs. Davis, giving her 
a concise statement about Mrs. Brooke, the letter, and 
Capt. Waller. I also enclosed a copy of letter from 
Dr. Wise. 

About the 20th of November I went to New York. 
Calling on Mrs. Davis I found her in her sitting room 
with m)' letter before her to be answered. We talked 
over all the circumstances. Mrs. Davis said m\- letter 
had brought back to her memory many of the incidents 
related in it. She well remembered Miss Maria Ashb\' 
as her school-friend from Virginia, and had an indistinct 
recollection of receiving the letter from her, referred 
to as being put over the river b\' one of my men. She 
had recalled the incidents of the 4th of March, 1864, 
very distinctly. 1 will give them as stated to me b\- 
her. She said the da}- was very warm, and they had 
the doors and windows all open in the house; that Mr. 
Davis had his presidential office in the house, and that 
her sitting room was directly across the hall; while she 
was sitting there Capt. Waller come in quite excitedly 
and said, "Mr. President, they are going to hang a 
Yankee officer down at the capitol." "Why are they 
going to hang him?" "He is the first officer they have 

109 



captured from the Dahlgren raiders." "Do }ou know 
who he is?" "I understand his name is Harris, from a 
Michigan regiment." Mrs. Davis heard tlie name and 
stepped across the hall into the office and said, "Mr. 
Davis, that may be our friend, Lieut. Samuel Harris, of 
the Fifth Michigan Cavalr\'; if so we don't want him 
hung." "No," said Mr. Davis. Mrs. Davis then said, 
"Captain, you go right down and find out if it is Lieut. 
Harris, and if so, tell them not to hang him until they 
have orders from Mr. Davis." Mrs. Davis said that in 
a ver)' few moments after Capt. Waller had left them, 
another staff officer came in with the same statement. 
Mrs. Davis told him the)' had just sent Capt. Waller 
down to stop it, "but you go down as quick as }'ou can 
for fear Capt. Waller won't get there in time; run as 
fast as )'Ou can." Capt. Waller reached me in time to 
save me from being hung. (See page 86). Man)' 
thanks to Mrs. Davis, for there is no possible doubt but 
for her prompt intervention I should have been hung. 
Nor is there any more doubt but that her interest in 
me was caused b)- the letter written b)' Mrs. Brooke 
(Miss Maria Ashby), telling how I had saved her and 
her children from starving. 

I spent a very pleasant hour with Mrs. Davis and 
her daughter. Miss Winnie Davis, or better known as 
"The Daughter of the Confederac)." The)' both re- 
quested me to come back and take dinner with them. 
I returned at the appointed time and had a very enjoy- 
able hour at dinner. Afterwards we adjourned to their 
parlor. I had never before seen as much of Miss 
Winnie. 1 found her one of the most accomplished 



}oung ladies I had ever met. Well-read in all the 
sound literature of the da_\', and a student in ancient 
histor)-, and though not a student in astronom\-, she 
was better versed in it than an)- lad\' I have ever met. 
During our talk Mrs. Davis, speaking quite earnestly, 
said: "Capt. Harris, during the war I helped a good 
man}' of both our own and your people, and \ou are 
the only one that has ever returned to thank me for it." 
I remarked that "a long time ago there were ten lepers 
cleansed, but onl)- one returned to give thanks, and he 
was a Samaritan, and I a Yankee." 

I cannot close this part of m\' reminiscence without 
recording m\- thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson Davis, 
to Miss Seddon and to the surgeon of Libb\' Prison for 
the part each took in ni)- defense and in saving m}' life; 
and also to Mrs. Garcin for the kind s}mpath\- she 
showed me. 

(Note — I learned at Richmond that Miss Seddon 
died about the \-ear 1870. ) 

I here insert a letter received from Mrs. A. P. 
Davis, who was the eldest child of Mrs. Brooke, and 
the little girl that opened the door for me on the morn- 
ing of January 1st, 1864: 

Gloucester, Va., June 5th, '95. 
Mk. -Samuel Harrls — 

I am in receipt of a letter from Dr. Jno. C. Wise, 
enclosing )'our letter to him. I waited before answer- 
ing to see my brother, but he, like myself, could only 
remember that a kind of^cer sent us food when we 
were starving. As you mention everything so accur- 
ately, there is no doubt in my mind about your being 
the kind officer who sent us beef and bread at the time 
we so much needed it, and had ni\- dear mother li\ed 



she could have told us much that we wished to know; 
but she has been in heaven for eight Nears. My 
brother soon followed her, and the rest of the children 
hardly know anything of the war. I feel satisfied that 
you must be the officer who fed and was kind to us, 
and will always feel grateful, and should you visit our 
state would be trul_\- glad to meet and entertain you or 
any of 3'our familw Soon after )'Our kindness to us I 
was sent away to school and did not return home until 
the war was ended. The next year we moved from the 
count)' and 1 have never been back to the scene of our 
trials. 

With sincere gratitude for \'our past kindness to 
mx'self any familw and best wishes for yourself, wife 
and children. Yours most sincerely, 

Mrs. a. p. Davis. 

I have given most of the incidents in prison at 
Libb}' from Frida\-, the day I was taken there, until 
Monda\' noon, the 7th of March, 1864. The surgeon con- 
tinued to be my friend and protector. I think he did 
all he could for me. M\' wound improved rapidl)', and 
in the course of ten da\'s I was able to sit up awhile each 
day. By this time the surgeon gave me almost positive 
assurance that I would live through it. After this my 
convalesence was quite rapid. Major Turner issued 
orders that no prisoners should be allowed to look out 
of any window. He even went so far as to place guards 
across the street and if the\- could sec a Yankee at any 
of the windows to shoot him. He put quite a number 
in the dungeons in the basement simply to gratif}' his 
brutality. Among the prisoners in the hospital was the 
lieutenant-colonel of General Grant's old regiment. 
He was about fift}' )'ears old and (]uite feeble. He had 

118 



been a congregational minister before the war. An- 
other prisoner was a \-oung lieutenant from Ohio He 
had been a universalist minister, and was of a very com- 
bative disposition and could not stand any opposition 
to his pet theory of universal salvation. The two ex- 
ministers used to have ver}' hot discussions, much to the 
amusement of all the rest of us. One da\' the }'oung 
lieutenant came up to me and began by sa}-ing, "T un- 
derstand you are one of these hell-fire men." 1 said 1 
was a member of the congregational church and their 
belief was mine He went on talking so fast that I 
could not get in a word edgewise. B}- this time a large 
number of the officers had gathered about us. I said, 
"I want to ask a question." "Certainl\-." "You sa\' 
you believe all men will go to heaven." "Yes, there is 
no doubt of it in m\- mind." "Then }ou believe that 
Major Turner, Dick Turner and La Touche will go to 
heaven." Raising himself to his full height he brought 
down his hand with a vengeance and said, "No, if God 
Almighty hasn't got a hell I hope he will make one 
speciall}' for those three de\ils." There was a general 
shout from all of the officers about us. No matter 
what their religious belief was the}' were all glad to 
have the bumptious and loud-mouthed lieutenant 
squelched. We heard no more religious discussions 
while in prison. 

The rations given to the well prisoners were bad 
enough, but when such rations were given to the s/c/c 
and i<'02i)idcd it became a damnable and hellish act; anci 
much more so for the reason that there was no excuse 
for it. While w-e were confined in the prisons of Rich- 

113 



mond, our government offered to furnish rations and 

clothing for all of us, but the brutal Gen. Winder, the 

rebel commissar)' general of prisoners, would not allow 

it. Then the friends of the prisoners sent thousands of 

boxes of food and clothing, not one in a thousand of 

which ever reached the ones the)- were sent to. Most 

of them were appropriated b)' the infamous Gen. 

Winder, Major Turner, Dick Turner and La Touche. 

The proof of this is incontestible. The rations furnished 

us in the hospital was one pound of corn bread made of 

meal ground corn and cob together. It \\as mixed up 

with water with no salt in it, and even was not half 

baked. None but a brute of a man would feed his hogs 

on such food. The only way we could eat it was to 

pulverize it, and get out all the cob possible, then bake 

it over. At least half of it we would burn and make 

corn coffee from it. Besides this corn bread, we were 

given one-half pound of beef twice a week, but such 

beef; it smelled so strong of garlic that it was repulsive 

e\en to us who were half starved. The onl\- \va\- we 

could get the intense stink out of it was to cut it up in 

small pieces and soak it in water over night; then we 

would boil it about four hours. Even then a cur-dog 

would turn from it in disgust. Hut we were compelled 

to eat it or starve. ( )ne day was like all the rest in 

Libby Prison. Ever\- tla\- the rebs sent in se\eral 

colored men to carr\' out the offal. Each one of these 

was accompanied b\' a rebel soldier to keep him from 

talking to an\' of the prisoners. Hut the Yankee and 

cunning colored man was too much for them. Two or 

three Yankees would get around the soldier and show 

114 



him some trinket the\' had made or some trick in cards, 
keeping his back to the cohered man, while he would 
tell some other Yankee all the news he had hearci. 
There were about twenty-five hundred prisoners con- 
fined in Libb\- at this time, some from all arms and pro- 
fessions in life. One who was a signal of^cer in our 
arm\'. got up a code of his own. He asked one of the 
colored men if he knew of an\' white woman that kept a 
house whose window could be seen from the windows 
of Libbw "Laws, massa. I knows Airs. Green, who 
keeps the biggest house (of prostitution) in Richmond, 
and \ou can see her back windows from an\- of these." 
The of^cer send a line to Mrs. Green by the colored 
man, and she answered that she would learn the code 
and signal all the news. .She kept her word, and as 
long as we were in Libbx' we were quite well informed 
of what was going on in the outer world. Mrs. (ireen 
did this at great risk of her libert\' and even of her life, 
if it had been found out b\- the rebs. 

She was remembered b\' those high in authority, 
and immediatelx' upon the evacuation of Richmond she 
was sent to Washington and given a clerkship in one of 
the departments which she kept until her death. 

.Soon after the first of May we were ordered to 
get ready to be mo\ed south. We soon learned that 
Gen. Grant had crossed the Rapidan and there was 
heav}- fighting in the Wilderness. We were moved 
south to make room for fresh prisoners. We were 
taken as far as Danville, \"a., where we were ke})t in 
old tobacco warehouses so crowded that it was almost 
impossible for all to lie down at the same tirne. it 



was evident we were not to be kept there loivj;. After 
about ten da\s we were marched to the; railroad and 
taken further south. We were stopped at Augusta, Ga. 
We were kept here about two days. It was said that 
the good people of Augusta did not want our compan)- 
for fear of contamination b\- the Yankees. So after a 
very short sta\' in the cars we were sent on to Macon, 
Ga. During the journey m\- old diarrhoea came back 
to me with redoubled force, mostl\- caused by poor 
rations and bad water given us to drink. When we 
reached Macon 1 was too weak to walk to the stock- 
ade or the prison grounds. The guard pressed into 
service a man driving a pair of old mules and a lumber 
wagon. Placing me in this, I was driven to the Georgia 
State fair grounds and put into one of the old build- 
ings and laid on the floor, which was not a \ery soft 
bed for one as sick as I was. That night my diarrhoea 
turned into the blood\- flux. .Sexeral of m\- friends 
came around to see me thai night. None of them 
expected to see me ali\e in the morning. I slept 
quite well during the night and woke up in the morn- 
ing much refreshed. Lieut. Dean of my regiment 
came to see me. He had three opium pills which he 
ga\e me, cautioning me to only take one then, one at 
noon and one at night. After he had gone I looked 
at the pills and thought if one would do me an}' good 
three would do me more good, so opening my mouth 
down went all three pills, each as large as a small pea. 
Soon after this a ver\' pleasant rebel sergeant came by 
where 1 law I called to liim and he asketl \ery 
pleasantl)', "What can 1 do for you?" I answered 



that I had a \er\' bad case of diarrhtea, but that it" 1 
could get five pounds of wheat flour I coukl cure ni)- 
self. He answered quickly, "you shall have the flour 
if 1 can get it." Out he went, but verv soon returned, 
having on a big heavy overcoat, with side pockets like 
saddle bags. Coming close to me and looking all 
about to see that no rebs could see him, he pulled out 
of his spacious pocket a large package of flour and 
laid it down on the floor b)' me. I thanked him for 
his kindness and offered him a ten dollar confederate 
bill. He declined the bill, saying, " You will need tiiat 
\'Ourself; I onl)' hope the flour will cure \'ou." Man)' 
thanks to ni}- unknown friend. 

Soon after this, one of our ofificers came by with 
some cold water from the spring and gave me a capful. 
I poured three or four spoonsful in another cup, and 
taking a large spoonful of flour, stirred it together and 
drank it. This I repeated every five or ten minutes 
during the forenoon. Not long after this, an officer 
came along that I was well acquainted with, and I 
asked him to take some of the flour and make me some 
porridge. 1 well remember how good it tasted even 
without salt. All doctors laugh at m\- flour cure 1 
reasoned then that the lining of my stomach and intes- 
tines was inflamed by the A'ile contents, and if I could 
onh' paint them over with flour paste I would get well. 
I onl}' thought of it as a mechanical process. ( )ne 
thing is sure, 1 lived, and five or six other officers that 
had the diarrhcea at the same time and did not use 
flour, died. From the time we left Richmond until 
about two weeks after arri\ingat Macon, we were under 

m 



the comnian<l of Captain Semple. The best descrip- 
tion I can give of him is to refer the reader to the 
stor\- of "Simple Simon." He was a nonentit\in ever\' 
respect. He was soon relieved of command b\' Capt. 
Winder, who was a brute b\- instinct and birth. Soon 
after we arrived at Macon, a large amount of lumber 
was sent in to prison, and our officers set to work and 
built four large sheds with steep board roofs. The 
sides and ends were left open. Rows of bunks were 
built well up to the roof. No straw or bedding was 
given us, not even for the sick or wounded. In a few- 
days new prisoners were brought in. The moment the 
gate opened to admit them some of the old prisoners 
would holler at the top of their voices, "Fresh fish." 
This would be taken up b\' all the rest and a grand 
rush would be made for the gate. The first impression 
of a new prisoner was that he had fallen in with a lot 
of half civilized Indians. We were all unshaved, with 
long hair, unwashed and half naked. Few who had 
been in prison over six months had clothing sufficient 
to cover their nakedness. Most were bare-footed. 
Those who had pants would turn them each daw The 
reason for this was too many body lice, as large as a 
grain of wheat. One day, Capt. Jacob L. Green, assis- 
tant adjutant general of our brigade, was brought in. I 
heard them hollering "Custer's men." I immediately 
made m\- way to the gate, the crowd cheerfully giving 
wa\' for me. There I found Capt. Green, a most woe- 
be-gone and forlorn looking person. He was glad to 
see one face he knew. I took him to where I slept. 
and asked him if he was hunurw He said hunger was 



no name for it. I told him to sit tlown on the floor 
while I got him some dinner. I went out antl baked 
him a half dozen corn cakes, and carried them in to him 
on an old piece of sheet iron, the only plate I had. 
Setting these down before him on the floor, I invited 
him to eat. He looked at the cakes, then at me, and 
bursting out crying, asked, "Lieut. Harris, has it come 
to this?" I answered, "Ves, Captain, you are luck\- to 
get that. If I was a well man, with a fair appetite, I 
would not have had that left from m\- dinner.'" 
He soon became accustomed to the rations. There 
were from 2,500 to 3,000 officers confined here. It 
must be borne in mind that the enlisted men were 
confined in another prison at Andersonxille, Ga. 
Among our officers were men from ever\' profession 
and walk in life. Among them were several fine actors 
The\- organized a compan\- and frequently entertained 
us with theatricals from burlesque to Shakespeare. 
There was a quartet of the finest singers who frequenth" 
entertained us evenings. Sometimes a thousand voices 
would join in the chorus. There was also a string band 
of several pieces that would discourse music seldom 
heard e\en in the best concerts. Among our num!:)er 
were several of the best orators living, which we would 
press into service. All of these relieved the tedium of 
our confinement and made us forget our poor rations. 
Among us were several expert penmen. The\- made a 
good man\' greenback bills of five and ten dollars each. 
The\- were so clexcrly done that they passed them off 
on the rebel guards in exchange for tobacco and (jther 
things the\- could bring in camp in their p(jckets. 



While at Macon we used to sweep the whole camp 
every da\- with brooms made of brush which the rebs 
furnished us. This dirt was carried out of camp in 
carts drawn b)' small mules, each mule having a darkey 
rider and a reb soldier to guard him. But the Yankee 
was too cunning for him. A few of us thought one of our 
number ought to go out with each cart. So we asked 
the darke\' to bring in some elder brush about three- 
cjuarters of one inch in diameter. We punched out the 
pith and cut it off in lengths of about eighteen inches. 
We then carried the dirt we had swept up into piles 
large enough to fill the cart to its full capacit\-. When 
the cart would back up to one of the piles a half-dozen 
or more officers would get around the dirt and throw 
it into each others faces, and make such a dust that th<.' 
guards on the stockade could not see what was going 
on. While this was going on, an officer that wanted to 
try his chance to escape would crawl into the cart, and 
placing a piece of the elder in his mouth to breathe 
through, other officers would shovel the dirt all over 
him, filling the cart to its brim. One of the officers 
would slyl)' tell the darkc}' to go out in the woods to 
dump this load, and to drive back b\- a house (of pros- 
titution) and tell some of the girls to go there after 
dark and get the Yankee. No matter whether he told 
a white or colored girl, the\' would go and get the 
\'ankee and start him on the road towards our lines. In 
this wa\' several of our men escaped, anil man\- more 
would have gone out in the same wa\' if a majoritx' of 
our committee on escape had not allowed a \cry young 
officer to go out. Two or three of us protested \er\' 



-strongl)' against it as we did not think he would use 
good judgment. It proved as we thought. In a few 
da\'s he was recaptured, and was fool enough to brag 
how he escaped from prison. Of course our scheme 
was up. No more officers could get out that way. Our 
rations here were better and more of them than we had 
when in Libb}', }et they were b}- no means what they 
should have been. A day's rations to each man was 
supposed to be a pint of corn meal, a tablespoonful of 
poor rice, a tablespoonful of burnt sorghum, and three 
da\s in the week two ounces of bacon. The bacon 
was alwaws full of maggots. One day I sat on the 
ground b\- a fire with several other officers cooking our 
dinner of corn cakes and broiling our bacon. A ver)' 
large maggot came up on top of m\- piece. It was about 
half an inch long and about an eighth in diameter. As 
it came out it curled u]) and jumped about four 
inches high. I hollered out: "I will bet m\' maggot 
can jump higher than anyone in camp." This was 
taken up and hollered all over camp that the "Dahl- 
gren raider has got the biggest maggot in prison." 
Soon there was a big crowd about us; an\'thing for 
a diversion. After cooking the bacon of one side 
we would scrape the maggots off the top and turn 
it over. When done we would eat it, maggots and all, 
with a heart}', good relish. Much more so than an\- of 
us can now eat chicken pie or roast turkew We were 
ver\' hungry then. 

One day a rebel lieutenant and three or lour ol his 
men were standing near me at roll call. The\- got into 
a dispute whether Lee or Grant was their general. 

121 



The\' agreed to leave it to me. The lieutenant asked 
me which one was their general. I said " General 
Grant is \oar general." He then turned to his men 
and said, "There, I told you so." Then turning to me 
said, " Yank, if you had General Grant on \our side 
vou would have licked us long ago." 

The terms "mush eater" and " puddin' head" 
originated among us here in Macon. Neither was 
intended to be an insult to an\- person ; \et there were 
a few who resented it very much. One new prisoner, 
who was o\er six feet and a very powerful man, said 
he would kill an\-one that would call him a " ])uddin' 
head." The boys almost worried the life out of him. 
Col. Hawkins, colonel of a Tennessee caxalry regi- 
ment, was brought in prison, together with his son 
and several other of his oiTicers. Col. Hawkins be- 
came ver\- despondent. One da}- his son came and 
wanted me to go and rouse him up. I was wilHng to 
go provided he would protect me from his father, as 
I was hardh' able to walk about. He promised to see 
that no harm came to me. I then went to Col. Hawkins' 
bunk antl had a few moments pleasant conversation 
with him. tr)'ing to reason him out of his despondenc\', 
antl tried to show him that his feelings were only an 
in)ur\' to himself and to other officers. His onl\' 
answer was that we would all die before we were 
exchanged. 1 laughed at him, liut all to no a\ail in 
rousing him up. As a last resort 1 taunted him on 
being captured without being wounded. His liot 
Southern blood resentttl this, and jumping h'om his 
bunk made for me with a \engeance. threatening to 



mop the camp up with me. His son and two or three 
other officers from his regiment, who were posted as to 
what I was doing, kept between us. I flourished my 
fist at him with all my strength, teUing him to come 
on, I could lick him with one hand. This went on 
several minutes, when all of us burst out laughing. 
The colonel was quick-witted, and turning to his son 
asked, " What does this mean?" He told him they 
had got Lieut. Harris to come and rouse him up and 
'" he has succeeded." Hawkins saw through it in an 
instant and joined us in a hearty laugh at his expense. 
He came forward and extending his hand, thanked me 
for curing him. After this I had no better friends in 
prison, or those who would do more for me, tlian Col. 
Hawkins and son, as well as other officers of his regi- 
ment. We both lived to be exchanged. 

Two or three years after this he was elected a 
member of Congress from his district. One da\- while 
in conversation with some members from Michigan ni)' 
name was mentioned. He asked if 1 was a Dahlgren 
raider. On being informed that 1 was the person, he 
inquired where 1 li\ed, and immediate!)- took his hat 
and coat and left for my house. M\- wife and self 
were sitting in our parlor when a loud knock came at 
the door, and then opening it and stepping in. seeing 
me, said: " Lieut. 1 1 arris, \ou saved my life at Macon. 
I just found you out and came right up to thank n'Ou 
again for it." We had supper and spent a ver\- pleasant 
evening together, talking o\er old prison and war 
times. During his term we spent man\- a pleasant 
hour together, both at m\- house and his rooms. Capt. 

123 



Green in some way procured a razor and shaved me 
several times. I tried to shave him one day. He hol- 
lered like a loon, saying I was pulling all the hair out of 
his face. I concluded I was not a success as a barber. 

Lieut. Davis relieved Capt. Winder in command of 
the prison. Davis was a gentleman and a brave man. 
He gave us better rations and more of them ; nor 
would he allow the sentinels to fire at a prisoner because 
he was near the dead line. His administration was a 
perfect contrast to that of the brute, Capt. Winder. 
Lieut. Davis resigned, after being with us about two 
weeks, to act as a spy for the rebels in the west. He 
told some of our officers what he proposed to do. 
They tried to dissuade him from doing so. Davis was 
relieved by Col. Gibbs, a North Carolinian, who proved 
to be an excellent man in every respect. He came in 
prison ever\' day to talk with our senior officer, and 
kindly listening to any complaint we had to make 
through him. He remedied all just complaints as far 
as possible. 

In the spring of 1866 I was walking by the National 
hotel, on the corner of Penns\lvania ave. and Sixth st.. 
Washington, and saw Col. Gibbs on the porch. 1 went 
up to him and extending ni)' hand, said: "How do 
you do, Col. Gibbs." He was quite uneasy and said, 
"I cannot recall )'ou." I answered, "1 presume not ;" 
that likely I looked very different from what 1 did 
when he saw me last. I told him I was one of the 
prisoners at Macon, of which he had command. This 
made him still more uneasy, but I soon put him at ease 
by telling him that any of the old prisoners would be 

124 



glad to see him. He informed me that he was left 
penniless after the war, and that he did not have a dol- 
lar in his pocket. His expenses to and from Washing- 
ton were paid by the Government. I told a lot of the 
ex-prisoners about him. and we had a meeting at mv 
ofifice and raised him quite a little sum of money, and 
one among us who was well acquainted with President 
Johnson, going to him, secured a full pardon for Col. 
Gibbs. Several of us went over to the hotel and pre- 
sented the pardon and purse to iiim. He was very 
much surprised and gratified to receive them from 
those, who but a short time before, were his enemies. 
He was completel}' overcome and unable to speak for 
a few moments. He thanked us for both the pardon 
and purse, sa}'ing, that he prized them highly, coming 
from us. 

It mav be interesting to the reader to know w hat 
became of Lieut. Davis. After leaving Macon, he 
went to Gen. Hood as a sp)'. In the spring of 1865, 
he was captured inside our lines and condemned b\' a 
court martial to be hung. One morning, just after I 
had reached m)- olifice, an ex-prisoner rushed in with a 
paper and said to me, "read that." It was a short 
article, telling that a man by the name of Lieut. I)a\is 
was to be hung at noon as a spy in Knoxville, Tenn. 
We both went as fast as possible to find an ex-prisoner 
who was acquainted with President Johnson. He went 
immediateh' to the White House and laid the case be- 
fore the president, who called his telegraph operator 
and told him to get the operator in Knoxville as soon 
as possible, and tell the commanding officer there not 

125 



to hang Lieut. Davis. Soon an an.s\ver came that his 
telegram reached him too late, that he was hung fifteen 
minutes before. All old prisoners expressed regret at 
the outcome, but we had done all we could to save him. 
After being confined in Macon, Ga., for about two 
months, we were divided up in squads of about six 
hundred and sent away. I was in squad number 
one, which was sent to Savannah, Ga. The other two 
squads were sent to Charleston, S. C. On the road to 
Savannah, our train had to la)- over some time on a 
siding, waiting for another train to pass us. While here 
we were allowed to get out of the cars and walk about 
within a few feet of them. They also allowed us to 
bu)' watermelons of the darkies; the melons were the 
largest and finest I ever saw. The next da)' we arri\ed 
in Savannah and were marched out about two miles and 
put in the )'ard of the Marine hospital. Here we were 
turned over to the command of a large company of 
men called "The Marion Guards." Each member was 
a direct descendant of one of Gen. Marion's men. Their 
ages were at least sevent)' )'ears down to about eighteen 
N'ears. The captain was a ver)- pleasant looking man, 
full)' sevent)' )'ears old, short, thick set, w ith white hair. 
Soon after he took command we began to holler, 
"Rations, where are our rations?" This brought the 
captain into camp \er)' quickl)- to find out what we 
meant. We told him that we hatl no rations and had 
nothing to eat that da)'. He said he would do all he 
could for us. Calling all his men together he told them 
our situation and asked them, all who were not on post, 
to go home and bring all the) could spare for us to 



eat. In about an hour eatables began to be brought in. 
Each one brought what he had on hand; bread, cake, 
pies, preserv^es, pickles, etc. Thanks to the good 
people of Savannah, and especially to the Marion 
Guards, we had a good supper. The next da)- the 
captain procured a cjuantity of rice and sent it to us. 
The captain, his officers and men were all good soldiers, 
and ever\- one of them gentlemen. While the}- were 
with us not a gun was fired, and we began to feel safe. 
One day the captain came into the prison and asked if 
we would like some reading matter. We said it would 
be a great lu.\ur\' to us. That evening a wagon was 
driven into prison well filled with magazines, books and 
papers. I got hold of Milton's "Paradise Lost" and 
read it through several times. They were all passed 
from one to another, and sometimes we would get a 
good reader to read aloud; he was al\va\s sure of a 
good audience. Thc;y were with us only about a week 
when they were relieved by a part of the Second 
Georgia regulars under the command of Maj. Wa\ne. 
This regiment had been to the front for some time and 
was sent to guard us that the\- might have time to 
recruit. Maj. Wayne was a very rough man. He 
alwa)-s left a blue streak of profanit\- behind him, yet 
for all that he had a big heart in him. Without doubt 
he was a brave man, as he had beei in man\- battles 
and bore a good name with the office ,ul men of his 
regiment. He procured tents for us, and gave us more 
and better rations than we had before or afterwards 
while we were in prison. I asked of him the privilege 
of bu)'ing and selling a few articles in prison, such as 

137 



cigars, cakes, bread, writing paper, etc. He even 
brought in one of his lieutenants and directed him to 
bu)- such things for nic at the best possible price. 
I made a few dollars in this \va\-, which enabled me to 
get a few things I very much needed in m\' weak 
condition. 

We were kept here in prison about six weeks, when 
very much to our regret we were taken b}' rail to 
Charleston, S. C, and put in the jail yard. We found 
that all the other prisoners we had left behind in Macon 
had been brought direct to Charleston. We Wvj^re all 
taken there to keep our folks from firing on the city 
from the Swamp Angel Batter)-. Quite a number of 
our boys thought we were going to be exchanged \'er\' 
soon. They were much disappointed that we were 
not. Capt. Sprague, an officer in the First Michigan 
Cavalry, gave up to a feeling of despondency. One 
da)' I was walking by the jail and saw him sitting on 
the ground leaning against the wall with his face laying 
on his knees, the worst picture of despair I ever saw. 
I tried m\' best to rouse him up; so did others, but all to 
no use. The seconci da)' after this he died. A perfect 
example of the power of the mind over the bod)'. 

Few shells were fired into the cit\' during the day- 
time, but as soon as it came night the)' would begin 
firing, and man)' times there would be three or four in 
sight at one time. Most ot them were fuse shell and 
each would leave a streak of sparks behind it similar to 
a large sk\'-rocket. They were a beautiful sight. The 
shells were from eight to twehe inches in diameter and 
about two feet long. The)' were fired at an angle of 

128 



more than twenty-two degrees. The\' would be fulh' 
one mile high before the\' would turn to come down. 
One starlight night I la\- on m\- back watching them, 
when one looked as though it was coming directh' at 
me. I jumped up and ran several feet, when I stopped 
and thought, "What a fool I am to try to get out of the 
way in so small a place." I looked up and saw the 
shell go directl)' o\er us, yet high up in the air. It 
struck over a mile bexond us. I went back and laid 
down on my side so I could not see them, and then 
went to sleep. One da}' several of us were sitting under 
a small locust tree in one corner of the \ard pla\"ing 
cards, when a shell came over a little to our left, but 
the fuse being cut sexeral seconds too short, it exploded 
when it was about three hundred feet in the air. 
A piece of it about as large as two hands came over and 
cut the body of the tree off just above our heads. 
We scratched out on all fours to get out of the wa_\-. 

One da)' I was standing near a door leading into 
the jail. A reb soldier was standing guard at the door 
to keep us out. A colored bo)', aljout fifteen xe.irs old, 
who was errand boy to the jailer came down the hall 
and looked out of the door. The guard ordered him to 
go back. The bo\- started to go and had got to the 
foot of the stairs about ten feet from the door, when the 
guard drew up his gun and deliberately shot the box- 
through the lungs. He gave one cry and fell to the 
floor dead. The reason the guard gave for killing him 
was he claimed the bo)' laughed when he told him to go 
back. The guard was relieved from post, but w?s 
e.xonerated b\' the authorities for killing the bov. 



cause he said the nigger laughed at him. This man, or 
rather brute, was placed on the same post in the after- 
noon. We immediatel)' called the officer of the guard 
and requested him to remove that man from guard in 
our camp, as we were afraid he would kill a Yankee as 
quick as he would a nigger if he imagined any of us 
were laughing at him. The officer respected our wishes 
and removed him from amongst or even about us, as 
we saw no more of him during our stay in the jail yard. 

Our rations were fair, and the officers and men on 
guard over us were generally kind. We were kept in 
Charleston about three weeks, when we were taken by 
cars to Columbia, S. C, where we arrived about the loth 
of October. We were kept a few hours in a large 
vacant lot adjoining a large warehouse which was filled 
with bacon. The windows were all open and all well 
barred, but our boys were hungry and here in plain 
sight was plent)' to eat. The}' soon found some sticks 
about six feet long, and driving a nail through one end 
as a hook, soon drew out quite a number of pieces of 
bacon before they were discovered b}- the guard. We 
were immediately moved to another part of the town 
to a large vacant lot. We were kept here until the next 
afternoon. 

In the morning Lieut. Parker, of the Eleventh 
Vermont Infantry, was brought into our camp all torn 
to pieces by blood hounds. He, together with two 
other of our officers, had jumped from the cars when 
we were not man}' miles from Columbia. A large pack 
of hounds were set uj^on their track. Parker was over 
six feet high and a most perfect buill man. llis two 

130 



companions were small in statue. Parker helped both 
his comrades to climb trees out of the dogs' reach, but 
before he could climb up out of their way the dogs 
were on him. There were so man\- he could not fight 
them all off. They literally tore him to pieces; so 
much so that he died the same da\' he was brought 
back to prison. The brutes of men in charge of the 
dogs stood b)' and gloated to see him torn to pieces. 

The ne.xt da\- we were marched out about three 
miles from the city on top of a hill to camp. A line 
was laid out for the guard line, and an imaginar\' line 
twent}' feet inside the guard line was called the dead 
line. Soon after, there was a very hard, cold rain tor 
several days. We had nothing to shelter us from the 
storm. It was hard for the well men to stand it and 
much more so for me. Most of the able-bodied men 
dug down in the ground about four feet, and covering 
the hole with sticks, then covering them with dirt, had 
a dr\' and ver\" comfortable place to sleep in. Some of 
these dug-outs would not be over two feet wide by six 
or sev^en feet long, just large enough for one man to 
crawl into, but most of them would be wide enough for 
three or four to crawl into and la\' down. 1 remember 
one made b\' several officers from Vermont that was 
called the "Palace." The roof had quite a pitch to it, 
so a man could stand upright in the center. The)' had 
a fire-place in it to cook by and to keep warm. It was 
large enough so eight or ten coukl lie down on the 
floor at one time. I was still suffering from my wound 
and could not use my left arm at all, so it was impos- 
sible for me to fi.x up an\- shelter for myselt. There 

131 



\\ 



as a small pine tree about ten feet high with a heavy 
foliage on it. I made ni}- home under this; it kept off 
some of the rain and sleet, but \\as no protection from 
the cold'November blasts which swept over the camp. 
About twenty feet from me was a mess of fi\'e or 
six of^cers, one of whom had been taken violently 
sick. The surgeon in charge had him taken out of 
camp and put in a tent he had pitched some ways from 
the prison. The next da\-, the surgeon, Dr. La Groon, 
came in camp and asked some of his fellow messmates 
to go out and take care of him, telling them he had a 
very bad case of yellow fever. They all refused to go 
out and care for liim. Dr. La Groon was ver\- angry, 
and justly so, and said: "\'ou cannot expect us to 
detail an\- of our men to care for your sick." As he 
came back b\- me I asked him what the trouble was. 
He said there was three of our officers out in a tent 
dying with )'ellow fever, and he could not get any of 
our men to go out and care for them. I said to him, 
"Doctor, 1 am very badly wounded and cannot use m\' 
left arm, but I will go out and do all I can for them on 
one condition." His face brightened up and asked me 
what was that. I answered, "that \-ou will take care of 
me ;" as I well knew I would catch the fever from 
them lie promptl\' answered, "I will tlo it." He 
took me out of the prison camp and to the hospital 
tent in the field. I there found three of our officers 
ver\- low. All I could do was to give them medicine 
and water to wet their mouths. That night the\- were 
all taken with the black \omit. All three died the 
next inornine- 



132 



Several of our officers were allowed to come out 
of the prison camp, and we hurried them at sunset under 
a persimmon tree near b3\ That evening Dr. La 
Groon sent for me to come to his tent, and said that 
without doubt I w^ould have the )'ellow fever, and de- 
scribed the first symptoms, and also told me to come 
to him immediately, and above all things not to get 
scared. He took me to a tent near his and told me to 
lie there that night. In the middle of the night I woke 
up with the very s)'mptoms he had told me of. I went 
to his tent and roused him up. He gave me a big 
tablespoonful of white medicine, which I supposed was 
calomel; at any rate it physiced me so hard that 
I thought m}' toe nails would come off. About noon 
Dr. La Groon came in to see how I was. He said, 
"Vou are all safe now; lie still two or three days and 
\ou will be all right." The latter remark was super- 
flous, for I was too sick to care to move, and too weak 
from the effects of the ph\'sic to get up if I wanted to. 
In a few days I was up and about. One da\- Dr. La 
Groon said to me, "Lieut. Harris, you are just the man 
I want to put in charge of the Yankee hospital." This 
consisted of a large tent with a lot of straw on the 
ground to lie on. It was a great luxury to me. The 
hospital was just across the road from the prison camp, 
and not more than ten rods from post number one, 
which w^as the entrance to prison. The road that 
passed by the camp, and hospital was the only one from 
Columbia to Saluda factor}-. This was a cotton factory, 
making cloth for the confederate arm\-, and was burned 
soon after this bv Gen. .SluTman. Dr. La Ciroon eave 



133 



me the privilege of walking over to the faclory at an\- 
time. 

One da)- I went over and as I was walking along 
the street a woman opened the blinds of her window 
slightly and asked me who I was. I told her I was a 
Yankee prisoner. She hardly believed me until I 
showed her I was wounded, and assured her that I was 
in the hospital. She then invited me to come in. 
I stepped inside the door which she was very careful to 
close after me. She sent her little girl out to ask in 
several other women, saying to her not to let an}- one 
else know who was in the house. She then told me 
that herself and each of the women she had invited in 
to see me were good Union women. 

I spent a very pleasant two hours or more with 
them. The)- each contributed a little, and set before 
me a better dinner than I had eaten for a long time. 
The husband of each had been compelled to enter the 
rebel army; part were killed. One woman said she had 
not heard from her husband for over six months. 

As I was about to leave, one got a pair of cotton 
pants, another a pair of men's shoes and gave me. 
1 bade them, and a dozen little children, good-b)'e. 
with man)' thanks for the pants and shoes, and returned 
to the hospital tent. I tried on the pants and found 
them too short at both ends by at least six inches, 
and too small around b)- about three inches. The 
man that wore them before me must have been short 
and might)- thin; however, 1 tied them together in 
front with strings. The)' were much better than the 
ones 1 had, as m\- old ones had a tremendous big hole 

IIM 



in the nether end of them, and I was very much afraid 
the lower part would drop off just when it would be 
very embarrassing, and what made it still worse for me 
one of my coattails was shot off in the same engage- 
ment in which I was wounded. The cotton pants was 
a valuable addition to m}- scanty wardrobe. Thanks 
to the good woman who gave them to mc, for I have 
no doubt she saw the necessit}- of my having them. 
However, I kept all the women in front of me as much 
as possible, and when I left the house I backed out and 
kept on backing until they closed the door. The shoes 
were too small for me and I gave them to another 
officer that could wear them. 

One evening, not long after this, two of the rebel 
officers came to the hospital and wanted me to go with 
them over to the factory to a public dance. They said 
they wanted to show the folks over there a "real live 
Yankee." I went with them and enjoyed it ver}- much. 
I could not dance, and if I had known how it would 
not have been safe for me to have done so, as it would 
have aroused the envy of others there. 

A few evenings after this, the same officers came 
to me again saying that some of the )oung women at 
the factory had arranged for a private dance at one of 
their houses, and had sent a request to bring the same 
Yankee with them. Of course I went and had a very 
pleasant time until about 1 1 o'clock, when a half-dozen 
young men who were not invited came in and threw 
red pepper on the floor. This stopped the dancing. 
One of the \oung men made a ver\- rough remark 
about the Yankee being there. Upon hearing this one 

135 



of the officers who had invited me to come stepped 
across the room and handed me a loaded revolver, say- 
ing, "Lieut. Harris, you know how to shoot; take care 
of yourself." The young men who were not invited 
soon left. The women then dampened the floor and 
continued the dancing. This was the last time I went 
to the village, as I thought it too dangerous. 

I spent about half the daytime in prison, going in 
with Dr. La Groon in the morning, and getting him to 
leave orders at the gate to let me out. One day, a big, 
long, lean hog came running through the camp. All 
the officers knew it in an instant, and in less time than 
it takes to tell it there were over a thousand after it 
The hog had a ver}- long snout and four long tusks 
which made him look like a dangerous thing to get too 
near. It was fun to see him open his big mouth and 
make a dash to get out, and to see the bo)^s jump to 
get out of the way. Some were not quick enough and 
were knocked sprawling on the ground. Finally, after 
a good many stabs with knives he was knocked over 
by one of the officers hitting him in the head with a 
club. It was cjuickly cut in pieces and on the the fire 
cooking. 

Almost all the guards could be bought for a ten- 
dollar confederate bill to let out in the night any officer 
who wanted to tr\' and escape to our lines. Generally 
there was a party of four went out. In each case $40 was 
paid to the guard. There had to be two guarcis in the 
secret. Our officers would lie down near the dead line 
and close to the posts where the guards were. When 
the guards would meet at the post and turn about and 



march in opposite directions our officers would crawl 
out between them and make off. 

Soon the commanding officer found out that too 
many Yankees were missing. He hired what they 
called there "a nigger hunter" with a pack of blood 
hounds to track the Yankees. Ever\- morning, this 
man would ride clear around the prison camp on a 
good horse with a pack of about twel\-e fierce looking 
dogs. He had two very valuable tracking hounds 
chained together by a chain about a foot long attached 
to their collars. These dogs, he claimed, had cost him 
ten thousand dollars each in confederate monc\-, which 
was the same as one hundred dollars each in green- 
backs. These two dogs when started out would keep 
their noses to the ground and as soon as the\' stru.ck 
a track would start off and follow it up, ba\ing at 
almost e\er\- jump. The other ten dogs following be- 
hind until the\- were in sight of the person the\' were 
on the track of, when they would all pitch on to the 
man and actually tear him to pieces lik'e a pack of 
hungr)' wolves, (^ur boys remembered the pitiful con- 
dition and fate of poor Lieut. Parker, aiul tletermined, 
if they could prevent it, no other one of us should suf- 
fer from such brutal men and beasts. 

( )ur boys formed a plan to kill the two tracking 
bloodhounds. The first dark exening, three or four 
of our number wanted to escape. The\- went (nit at 
post number twenty and went over a routi' laid out for 
them. After the}' had been out about two hours one of 
our men crawled out at post number eighteen, which was 
about twelve rods to the right of post number twent\', 

137 



where the others had gone out. He kept well to the 
right of their path for about a mile from camp, when 
h^ turned to the left and crossed the tracks of the 
others and kept on quite a distance, then turning to the 
left, came back and crawled into camp at post number 
twenty-two, which was about twelve rods to the left of 
post tvvent)'. 

In the morning, the nigger hunter and the other 
brutes started out to make their usual round, and soon 
struck the deco\' track and followed it into camp. Our 
boN's were laying in wait for them, each one armed with 
a long knife. Several tried to catch the chain but 
failed. Capt. Adams, from New York, was more suc- 
cessful. He caught the chain with his left hand, and 
quick as flash thrust his knife into both dogs. Others 
close by did the same. The dogs would not track 
a Yankee again. The}^ were killed right by a deep 
clay pit, and were thrown into this and covered up. 
Very soon the hunter came riding into camp, wanting 
to know where his dogs were. Not a man had seen or 
heard of them. He went out and informed the com- 
mancier, who brought in camp about one hundred men. 
These he stretched clear across camp and searched 
ever)' corner in it without finding them. Finally, one 
of their officers thought of the cla\- pit, and throwing 
out the brush found the dead dogs. He said he would 
punish the officer that killed them, lie told our 
senior ofhcer that he would not gi\'e us an\- more 
rations until we surrentlered the one that ditl the 
killing. He did ncjt send in our usual rations that 
day. " 



The next morning our senior officer sent word out 
to the rebel commander that he wanted to see him. 
He soon came in expecting we were read\- to give up 
the dog-killer. Instead of that, our colonel informed 
him that unless he sent in our rations within one hour, 
he would give the order for us to break camp, and that 
we would kill every man that resisted us, and if we 
caught him would hang him to a tree. This thoroughl\' 
scared him, and in less than an hour he sent in a larger 
amount of rations than we ever had before. This 
ended our clog fight and put an end to the blood hounds 
being sent around our camp every morning. 

One pleasant afternoon I took a walk down the 
road toward .Saluda factor}', and had not gone over 
twenty rods when I heard a carriage coming behind 
me. Looking back, I saw a two-seated carriage with a 
fine span of horses. On the rear seat were two young 
women with a darke)' driver. The woman on the right 
leaned out and motioned with her hand for me to stop. 
I stepped into the bushes by the side of the road. They 
drove up to me and stopped. I saw two beautiful 
women; the one next me was not over thirt}' N-ears old, 
and by her side sat a girl not over twenty, both having 
black hair and eyes. The elder asked if 1 was a 
Yankee. 1 laughed outright and said, "Yes, Madam, 
I am a full-blooded one." "Then how came >-ou out 
here?" I told her I was badly wounded when 1 was 
captured and was in the hospital tent that she had just 
passed. .She asked if 1 knew that tomorrow was Abe 
Lincoln's Thanksgiving day; also whether 1 had an>-- 
thing to be thankful for. "No, Madam, nothing but a 



little poor coin bread." She said, "It )ou will meet me 
here tomorrow at this time, I will iM-ing nou something 
to be thankful for." She then said she supposed 
I knew who and what she was, also that she kept the 
largest house in Columbia. She gave me her card, 
sa}'ing if an\- of our officers could get out of camp and 
come to her house she would start them on the road to 
our lines. We found that this woman had established 
an underground line to Knoxville, Tenn., at great 
trouble and expense. I took her card into camp next 
cla)' and gave her address to c]uite a number of our men. 
A number took advantage of her offer and were helped 
through to our lines. 

The next da)', at the appointed time, I was at the 
same place. True to her word she came and brought a 
large basket of soda biscuits, sa\ing, " The\' are Yankee 
Ijiscuits, and you will like them better than the wa}' we 
make them;" also a lot of butter, two nice bakeci 
chickens and sauce to go with them. I thanked her to 
the best of my ability, and calling one of the other 
officers in the hospital, we carried all to a grass plot b\' 
the side of the tent. I called all the inmates out and 
had them sit down in a ring. There was about a dozen. 
I then took all the eatables in the center and divided 
them as ecjually as possible to each one, reserving one 
pile for myself. We thanked our Maker and the 
woman that ga\e to us our Thanksgiving dinner. We 
called her an angel (some might sa)' she was a fallen 
angel). VVe had a good dinner, which we enjoyed be- 
Nond an\' possibilit\' of describing. 



uo 



There was an old i^enuine Coiii^o ncL^ro that drove 
one of the teams about camp tliat 1 had spoken to very 
pleasant!)' on the sly. One day he told me to lie close 
to the back side of m\- tent and he woidd come and 
tell me all the news. About tweh'e o'clock that nii^ht 
1 heard a scratching on the tent, and on raising the 
bottom up a little, found m}' negro friend l>'ing close 
to the tent. He told mc all about Gen. .Sherman's 
march to the sea. He repeated this every night as 
long as I was at Columbia. I would go into camp 
ever\- day with Dr. La Groon. By so doing I was able 
to keep them posted about Gen. Sherman. Lieut. 
Barse, of my regiment, and Capt. Clark, of the P'irst 
Michigan Cavalry, wanted to tr_\- to get to .Sherman's 
lines. .So I had them go up to Post Number One, and 
represent they were sick and ordered out to the hos- 
pital b\' the doctor. The ruse succeeded, and as soon 
as the\' reached the hospital, I covered them up in one 
corner with straw. 1 cooked them all the rations we 
had or could get. That night the)- started off, and 
after several nights' march fell in with some of Gen. 
Kilpatrick's men. About this time a man came up 
from Charleston with an immense quantitx' of Confed- 
erate mone}' which he offered to exchange with us, 
giving any officer $400.00 for a draft for $100.00 in gold 
on an\' banker in the north. I signed a draft for 
$100.00 in gold which I felt sure would not be paid. 
Major Griswold, the rebel commander, would not allow 
us to have the money. We had to put it in the hands 
of some one of the rebel officers. I chose Dr. La 
Groon. I hoped in some wa\' this money would help 

141 



me out of prison; and it did, as will be seen how I 
used it. 

Two or three days after this I was told b}- Dr. La 
Groon that Major Griswold had an order to send to 
Charleston one hundred and twelve of the sick and 
wounded among our officers to be exchanged I told 
the Doctor that I expected him to put me on the list 
as I was certainly the worst wounded man in the prison. 
He said that opposite my name was placed the remark 
that I was not to be exchanged until the end of the 
war, and it would not be safe for him to be the means 
of my exchange. This was news to me. 1 knew this 
was the work of the contemptible Gen. Winder. I 
thought a moment, and said, " Doctor, I have a favor 
to ask of }'ou, and that is to keep your mouth shut." 
He laughed and said he would do it unless it would 
compromise him by doing so. I told him that I would 
do nothing but what he would sanction under the cir- 
cumstances. I knew that one of the guards whose 
home was in the mountains of Northern (jeorgia had 
just received from there several gallons of whisk}- 
which he had for sale. I went immediatelx" to his tent 
and asked him the price of a gallon. He said, " Four 
hundred dollars." I told him I wanted a gallon of it. 
" \'ou can have it if 1 get the mone)'." I told him to 
come along with me to Dr. La Groon and I would pay 
him. 1 requested thj doctor to pay the four hundred 
dollars he had of my money to the soklier. He 
thought there was something wrong and wanted to 
know all about it. I told him it was to pa>- for a gallon 
of " mountain ^^dew," and with that I proposed to fix 



things so I would be on the road to God's country' to- 
morrow. He said, "All right," and wished nic success. 
I went back to m)- tent and laid down, but hardl)- 
closed m\' e\'es in sleep that night, for the morrow 
would be full of momentous events to me; exchange, 
freedom, friends, or more of prison life. Morning 
came at last; and soon Major Griswold and all his offi- 
cers gathered at post number one. I immediate!}' 
went to the guard and got a quart of the whisk}' and 
went over to where the Major was standing, and after 
talking a moment about the exchange pulled out the 
bottle of whisk}- anci passed it to the Major with my 
compliments and invited him to take a drink. He 
asked, " Where did }'ou get that ? " I answered, 
" Major, it's all right, I refer }ou to Dr. La Groon," 
who stood close b}-. The Major then said to me, 
" Drink first." I put the bottle to ni}- mouth but did 
not drink a drop. I then passed it to the Major who 
took a big drink and passed it to another officer. The 
bottle was empt\- before all the officers had a drink. I 
took the bottle and went to the guard and had it filled 
again. The Major took another big drink and passed 
it along. I had before this retjuested both Dr. La 
Groon and Dr. Coleman not to touch it as I wanted 
them both perfecti}- sober as 1 might need their help. 
About fifteen minutes had passed since 1 first pre- 
sented the bottle to the major. The whisk}- was be- 
ginning to take effect on him, and he called out in a 
Unid \oice, "Where are all these \'ankees that want to 
be exchanged?" There was quite a large crowd of our 
officers gathered about the gate. I called out to them 

U3 



to come on if they wanted to be exchanged. A good 
man)' more than was wanted came out. So as to count 
them, the major ordered them to fall in rank two and 
two. He then told one of his of^cers to go down each 
side and count how many there were. Both of these 
officers and the major were so drunk the\- could not 
count right. Before the\- had got far down the line the 
Yanks in the rear would fall out and go around them and 
fall in in front. The officers counting, reported there 
were ninet}' in line. Then the major called for more to 
come out. They were not long in coming. The major 
had them counted again. Then there were two or three 
too man)', for not enough had fallen out and gone around. 
Another count was ordered. Bn' this time none of the 
rebel officers could walk or count straight, and too 
man)' of our boys fell out frotn the rear and went 
around to the front. This time the)' reported short of 
the required number of ont; hundred and twelve. 
I had kept on the other side of our lines from Major 
Griswold anci close to our line. Soon the major turned 
to Capt. Maltb)' in command of a company from a 
Georgia regiment that was to guard us to Charleston, 
and staggering up to him said, "Damn 'em, I guess 
there is a hundred and twelve of them, go along with 
them." The column started and I fell in among our 
boys and went too. M)' four hundred dollars' worth ot 
whisk)' had worked to perfection so far. We tramped 
it down to Columbia with light hearts and a good step- 
We were taken to the cars and not long after we were 
on our wa)' to Charleston. While waiting for the cars 
we counted to see how man)- there were ot us. As I 

144 



now rememl)ci', there were two hundred and fift}"-six 
got out on an order for one hundred and twelve and a 
gallon of whisk)' to boot. Whisky did me, and a hun- 
dred and forty-four other officers, a big fa\or that day- 
Thanks to Dr. La Groon and Dr. Coleman for keeping 
their mouths shut. A word from either would ha\e 
betrayed me. I ha\e done ni}- best to find both or 
either of them to thank them for their kindness to me. 
We had got out of prison and were on our wa\' to free- 
dom, but how were we to pass Capt. Match at Charles- 
ton. One of our number said to us, "Lieut. Harris has 
got us out and now I will get all of \ou b\- Capt. Hatch, 
we are old school-mates and chums." 

The next da)' we arrived in Charleston, and our 
train was stopped at the old cotton depot some ways 
out from the wharf. Capt. Hatch was standing on the 
platform. Our West \^irginia officer went to him, and 
extending his hand, soon made himself known. The)' 
had a pleasant conversation for a few moments, \\hen 
our officer said, "Capt. Hatch, we have full double here 
what ) our order called for; 1 hope you won't send any 
of us back." Capt. Hatch said, "No, 1 wish \'ou had 
brought them all along, 1 would put them all on board 
)'our boats." A loud three cheers went up upon hear- 
ing this. He then told us it was too late to take us 
out to our boats that evening, but said he would gi\e us 
the best hotel in the city to put up at that night. Off 
we started down town afoot. Capt. Hatch told the 
guard to let us go as we desired. We were a motley 
looking crowd. The sidewalks were lined with white 
and colored folks, man)- of whom gave us what the)' had 



to eat and plent\- of water to drink, wliich was a luxur)- 
to us. When about half way down we heard a ver\' 
familiar voice calling to us. On looking about to see 
where it came from, we saw a face sticking out of a 
window or hole in the gable end of a cottage close 
b\' us. We immediately called to him to come down 
and go with us. He bade his friends an affectionate 
good-b\'e, and joined our ranks and was exchanged 
with the rest of us. He told us that he was one of the 
jail yard prisoners, and when we were moved to Colum- 
bia he fell out of the line while we were going from the 
jail yard to the depot, and that the famil)- living in this 
house had secreted him and furnished him food all the 
time we were in Columbia. We soon reached the 
largest hotel in the city. The building was well 
knocked to pieces b\- shell from the Swamp Angel 
Batterw Several of our boys took possession of the 
office, and in mock ceremon)-, assigned each of us to a 
room. There was not a vistage of furniture or of any- 
thing else in the hotel. We had little to eat, and cared 
less; we were bound for home, for God's countr)-. 

Bedlam reigned supreme. Ever3'one hollered and 
yelled, or sang " Home, Sweet Home." There was no 
sleep for any of us until well into the wee, small hours, 
when we all became so exhausted that we laid down 
and had a short nap. I was congratulated many times 
for my coup (fctat with the gallon of whiskw With the 
first streak of dawn some of the bo\s awoke and \ell- 
ing like demons, woke all the rest up. After a \ery 
scant breakfast we waited as patiently as possible under 
the circumstances for ("apt. Hatch to come and order 



us to tlic whart \\li(rc we were to take the boat tliat 
was to convey us to our Heet that lay at anchor just 
outside the bar. About noon Capt. Hatch made his 
appearance, and soon we were on our wa)' to the wharf. 
Here we were put on board an English blockade run- 
ner, manned by as glum and unfeeling set of English- 
men for officers and men as though the\' came from the 
wilds of Patagonia". We steamed down the harbor by 
Fort Sumter, a glorious sight to us because ,it la\' in 
utter ruins. Soon w^e came in sight of our fleet just 
outside the bar, with Old Glor)- floating at each mast 
head. Part of the bo}s undertook to cheer the old 
flag, but most of them, like myself, found too big a 
lump in their throat to cheer or to even make a loud 
noise, but the tears ran down our cheeks hard and fast. 
.Soon we ran along side of one of our big steamers that 
tow ered like a mountain above the low one we were on. 
A gang plank was soon thrown out, which was so steep 
that it was almost impossible for the weaker ones to 
run up. Gen. John E. Mulford, our assistant Com- 
missioner of P^xchange, stood at the head of the gang 
plank and reaching out his hand helped me onto our 
boat. I then felt safe and my long pent up feelings 
burst out in a hard cr\ing spell. The thought that I 
was out of a rebel prison, out of purgator}-, out from 
under that brute. Gen. Winder, was too much forme. I 
cried, laughed and hollered all at the same time from 
pure jo\'. 

This was the I2th da)- of December, 1864. I had 
been in rebel prisons nine months and eight da}s, dur- 
ing which time I had passed through more trials and 



escapes than is the general lot of a soldier. I think 1 
owe m\- life to my cheerful disposition, being hopeful 
and looking on the bright side. Man}' is the time, if I 
had given up hope, 1 would have died. I resolutely 
put all such feelings far away from me and said, "I will 
live to get home," and I did. An over-ruling Provi- 
dence had raised up friends to me from among my ene- 
mies that came to my aid several times at the right 
moment and thus had preserved my life; I have often 
thought, "for what?" 

Gen. Mulford soon noticed that I was barefooted, 
and asked one of the sailors to look and see if he could 
not find me a pair of shoes. The gallant tar soon found 
a thick pair of cowhide shoes, so stiff that I could hardl}- 
get them on. But the}' were much better than none. 
That night our boat started for Annapolis, Md., where 
we arrived about noon the third da}' out. 

The moment our boat came up to the wharf I jumped 
off on to the dock. A dozen men surrounded me and 
wanted me to go home w ith them to dinner. I went 
with one that was act[uainted \\ ith one of our men we 
left behind at Camp .Sorghum. lie took along three 
or four other old prisoners. Arriving at his house we 
washed up and made ourselves the most presentable we 
could. W'c were then shown into the dining room, 
w here we found a table loaded with eatables. Among 
the rest was roast pork and bi'ef. The room was quite 
warm ami tlie smell of the ricii food made me sick. 
1 had to go out in the oi)en air; e\en then threw up all 
I had on m}' stomach. I went back again but could 
iu)t sta\- in tlie room. The other officers ate heartiK , 



and one of tlu'iii died before he reached home. I went 
from there direct to the quartermaster's office to get 
transportation to Washington, but found that they had 
received orders not to give an}- of us a pass. While 
standing in the office thinking what to do, I heard some 
one call out quite loudl)-, "Lieut. Harris." I went out 
on the porch and called, " Here is Lieut. Harris." This 
was called out all over the grounds. Soon Lieut. A. B. 
Isham, of the 7th Michigan Cavalr)- (now Dr. Isham of 
Walnut Hill, Cincinnati, O.), came up and said he was 
the one that started the call, saxing he had found a 
friend that had lent him ten dollars, and that I had 
helped a good man}- out of prison and he would help 
me to Washington. 

We started for the depot, reaching there just in 
time to take the evening train for Washington. We 
found several other old prisoners aboard, some of 
whom cheeked it through. At the junction we got on 
the train from Baltimore. Several of us got into each 
car, huddled about the stove, all standing close to it to 
keep warm. The train had harclh' started before a gen- 
tleman came up and asked if I was Lieut. Harris, of 
Rochester, Mich. Without looking at him I said, "Vou 
are mistaken in the man." He went back to his seat, 
but soon returned and said that Mrs. A. C. Baldwin 
was sitting a few seats back and she was sure I was 
Lieut. Harris. I answered that she was right, but she 
must excuse me for I was in no condition to see her. 
He went back to Mrs. Baldwin who again sent him to 
me sa}-ing I must come to her, that she could tell me 
all about my folks, as she had seen them but a few da}s 

H9 



before. This was too big a piece of news for nie to 
resist as I had not heard from them for about six 
months. I had on the old cowhide shoes, the same old 
cotton pants, part of an old cotton undershirt and 
w hat was left of my old overcoat. I fixed these about 
me the best I could and went back to see Mrs. Baldwin. 
Standing in the aisle I shook hands with her. She 
moved along in the seat asking me to be seated. 1 ex- 
cused myself, saying I preferred standing. She insisted 
on my sitting down b\- her. I was compelled to tell 
her I was covered with bod)- lice, and for her sake 
could not sit down in the seat with her. The gentle- 
man who so kindl\- came to inquire my name was sit- 
ting in the seat in front He kindly got up, and turn- 
ing the back over requested me to take his seat, while 
he took the seat beside Mrs. Baldwin. I learned all 
about m\- folks, also that the\- had given me up for 
dead, not having heard from me for several months. 
We reached Washington in due time; nothing would 
do but I must get a carriage for Mrs. Baldwin. After 
she got \n 1 closed the door and was going down to the 
hotel in the cars. Mrs. Baldwin would not allow this; 
opening the door she said 1 must ride with her, and 
Mr. BaUlwin would help me get what clothes 1 wanted. 
.So I got in and sat on the front seat. Arri\ing at the 
hotel we found Mr. Baldwin was out. 1 then excused 
niN self antl went direct to the National hotel. The first 
j)erson 1 met in the rotunda was Hon. Zachariah Chand- 
ler, senator from Michigan. 1 extended my hand to him. 
1 le lookedat nie in astonishment and asked me who I was. 
I laughed and said, "What there is left of me is Lieut. 



Harris." He said, "Why, 1 th(ni(:^ht yoii were dead." 
"No," I said, "Here I am; just out of a rebel i)rison." 
He wanted to know if I had an\- money. I said, "No." 
"Come along with me and I will fix \ou out," and 
going up to the clerk of the hotel told him to give me 
one hundred dollars and charge it to him; also telling 
him to see that I had a good supper and a good room. 
At this time Mr. Kellogg, member of Congress 
from Michigan, hearing I was there came up to me and 
asked about an of^cer from Michigan who was a pris- 
oner with me. He said his mother and two sisters were 
living in Washington. I was well acquainted with the 
ofificer and knew that when I left Camp Sorghum he 
was out in the woods, having escaped a few days before 
I left there. But I did not dare tell him, so I told him 
he was all right and in good health when I left the 
prison. Nothing would do but 1 must get in a carriage 
with him and go to see the mother and sisters and tell 
them all about him. I was ushered into their parlor. 
Standing near the middle of the room I told them that 
he was well when 1 left. The\- all insisted on ni}- sit- 
ting down. I finall\- had to tell them if 1 did I should 
likely leaxe some animals they would rather not have 
in their house. I answered all their questions the best 
I could; I told them several big whoppers of lies, for 
I knew it would not do to tell them the truth — that the 
son and brother was out in the woods tr)'ing to escape, 
braving the dangers of starvation, being frozen in the 
mountains or torn to pieces by bloodhounds, and last 
but not least, of being hung if caught by the guerrillas. 
I thought it justifiable not to tell the truth. In about 

151 



ten da}'s after this the\- received a telegram from Knox- 
ville, Tenn., that he had escaped and reached our lines 
all safe. 

We returned to the hotel, when I telegraphed my 
folks that 1 was alive and would start for home the 
next evening. I then went to a clothing store and 
fitted myself with new clothes throughout ; then to a 
barber shop, and taking a good bath, left all m)- old 
clothes except what remained of my old overcoat, got 
into my new outfit and going back to the hotel met Mr. 
Chandler, who again did not recognize me. The next 
morning I went to the paymaster's office and drew 
five hundred dollars, then to the adjutant-general's 
ofifice and procured a month's leave of absence. Fax- 
ing Mr. Chandler back the money he kindl}' loaned 
me, I left for home on the 6 p. m. train. 

1 reached home about noon of the second day, and 
a happy meeting it was with m\' wife, father, mother 
and myself. The\' had all given me up as being dead. 
1 passed a ver)- pleasant month with my famil)' and 
friends. 

It may be interesting to the reacier to know what 
became of the drafts a large number of us signed at 
Columbia for one hundred dollars in gold in exchange 
for four hundred dollars in rebel mone}-. 

A captain (one of us) offered to take the drafts 
antl deliver them to a rebel friend of the loaner in New 

York. This officer was a captain in the 

regiment. He was taken from prison and sent to 
Charleston, .S. C, and sent out on a tug under a flag of 
truce to our blockade fleet, having all the drafts in a 



satchel. He was sent North on the first despatch boat 
sent from the fleet. Very soon the Captain became 
confidential with one of the officers of the boat, and 
told him how he got out of prison b}' simply taking the 
drafts for the rebel to his friend in New York. This 
officer immediately told the captain of the boat, who at 
once ordered all his officers to their state rooms and to 
lock themselves in. He then called one of the non 
commissioned ofificers to him and told him about the 
drafts their passenger had, and told him to call the 
passenger aft and to take him b\' the collar and tell 
him to bring all the drafts to him or he would throw 
him overboard. The traitorous captain went and got 
the satchel containing all of them, followed by the 
sailor who compelled him to stand by the railing and 
tear them all up and throw them overboard. So none 
of the signers of the drafts had to pay them, and as it 
turned out, the rebel in Charleston paid the four hun- 
dred dollars for the gallon of whisky that was the 
means of m^'self and one hundred and forty-three others 
getting out of rebel purgatory. 

A large number of officers from Michigan regi- 
ments w ere in prison w ith me. Their friends came from 
far and near to hear from them. The morning I left 
prison at Columbia, S. C, the guard from whom I had 
purchased the whisk)', told me that his brother-in-law 
was a prisoner in our hands, confined in Fort Delaware. 
He gave me his name on a piece of paper and wished 
me to write him that his famil\' were all well. I had 
been home but a few days when I wrote him as re- 
cjuested, and enclosed it in a letter to the commander 

153 



of the })i"i.son, askint^ that he show an_\- favors to him 
consistent!}', as his brother had been kind to me while 
1 was in prison. I enclosed a ten dollar greenback and 
told him his brother had invited me several times to 
eat with him. The commander turned the letter and 
money over to the prisoner, and also wrote me a letter 
that he would show him all favors possible for my sake. 
A letter from the prisoner expressed man\- thanks for 
my kindness. Not long after this, I received another 
letter from him asking for ten dollars more, as he was 
sick and wanted other things to eat than arm\- rations. 
I sent it to him gladly, as I remembered how much 
1 wanted a few delicacies when in prison. 

At the end of my leave I returned to the Marine 
Hospital, Annapolis, Md., and reported to the surgeon 
in charge. .Soon after this ni}- wound broke out afresh, 
caused b\- my collar bone being badly shattered and 
pieces working off. .Some of the younger surgeons on 
the board thought best to have an operation performed, 
but the president of the board said they had better let 
well enough alone. Time passed ver\' pleasantly while 
here. There were about two hundred of^cers of all 
ranks in the hospital, most of them fine young men. 

A few of us that were of a mechanical turn of mind, 
would get together and form plans for business when 
we were discharged. We would discuss each others 
plans. My own plans were to go back to Rochester, 
Mich., and build a railroad thirteen miles long, from 
Royal Oak to Rochester. At Ro)'al Oak my road 
would connect with another already running from there 
to Detroit. This had been a pet scheme of mine for 

154 



years. I found a small locuniotixe cnL^iiu' w cicjhinj:^ 
about fifteen tons, antl all the new ver\' litj^ht T rail 
I would need in the quarter-master's department, which 
they offered me at a nominal price; much lower than 
it would bring for old iron. The\- offered me this t(j 
help me start again in business, knowing I was badly 
and permanentl)' wounded. I immediately wrote to 
two men in Rochester laying my whole plans before 
them, but neither condescended to even answer ni)- 
letter. So that plan of mine came to nought. 

Soon Gen. Lee surrendered, and the war was j)rac- 
ticalh' over. Then came the terrible death of Lincoln, 
u hich was a hard blow for the North, and a harder one 
for the South. Part of us found it a hard matter to 
restrain the hot heads among us from taking vengeance 
on some of the well known out-spoken stay-at-home 
rebels of the town. One of the above kind added pitch 
to the already fierce fire by running out of a second- 
siory window a red flag. A large crowd of officers and 
men started with the determination to raze the building, 
then to appl}' the torch, but the cooler heads ])revailed 
and the mob went back to their quarters. 

The flag was quickl}- taken in. 

On April 17th a general order was issued from the 
war department discharging all ofificers in hospital that 
were able to travel home. I was discharged under tliis 
order and give here a photo engraved coi)y of ni)' dis- 
charge. This is a document I think a great deal of. 
You will notice that I was discharged for "IVon/K/s 
received in aetiony 



155 




3^futant (Stnttal'B ®tBct, 



•EXTRACT. 



^^iTo^^'. ^^^ton ide ifi^oU o/ a !^oai^/ c/ ^^teeiJ convened 

c/.-iJ, G//o. J^p4, Ju/w <#. ■f'^dS, ^tom tnia (^fe*, 

l/.e^^Mi^^k^nafrfea cjIf'ceP <.a honorabi-y ci\sc\M<nas.o jfioni ^nn mtufaty 

^^c '^i-Siicle^^ G/iaie^, on account ojf AnyMcai cMavuuy, 

ifKa^iec€et>^f:c/fnt/tiifiymen£) unM Ae ^fa/fj/te^ iAe -^iay ^i^eAailtneiU 
/■^U /^ u no/ i/p</:>mea /c <ne ^^veinmen/. -.'- ~.'- —/ 







<^^. 



Assiaimif Adyttmit GeTttrnl. 



^ tt rtlip, Q/nai //^ avove a) a Hue cc^y, ana fAaf Q/ nave /.{ij 

T ' 
(/try /taea /ne afiove-^amca cujcnataea oAfeceP jk / Q ■?> '— ' ^, 



^Wa^4tjfcn. C^, J3^ ^^ - . f<^<f'<rr' 




15fi 



I also give here a half tone engraving of an X-ray 
photograph of my left shoulder, which shows distinctly 
the break in my collar bone. The X-ray photograph 
was taken March 23d, 1897, ^ little over thirty-three 
years after 1 was wounded. 

I went to Washington and opened an office as claim 
agent, to procure back pay and pensions for officers or 
men. I was cjuite successful as I had a ver\' large 
acquaintance in the arm\- and especially in the cavalry 
corps. I soon added to m\- business thai of procuring 
patents. M\' wound had entirel)- healed up, yet I was 
quite weak. My shoulder was ver}- tender, and even 
the weight of my arm hanging down made it ache ver)- 
badly. It troubled me so much that I could not sit up 
all day. The heads of all the departments with whom 
I had to cio business soon found it out and fa\'ored me 
all the\' could. 

I sent for m\' wife to join me. She reached Wash- 
ington about ten o'clock, a. m., Ma\- 24th, 1865, the 
da}' that Sherman's army was passing down Penn.syl- 
vania avenue, at the grand review. 1 was sitting in a 
chair at the outer edge of the sidewalk looking at the 
troops passing when she laid her hand on m\' shoulder. 
1 brought out another chair atul we sat there until they 
had all passed. My own company and regiment passed 
b)- the da}' before. 1 was sitting in the same ])lace. 
The bo}'s of Compan}' A saw me and ga\e me a loud 
cheer; so did each compan}' as the}' jjassed. I arose 
and answered their welcome. 

We boarded for a short time, then went lo house- 
keeping in a modest wa}' upon Capitol Ilill. ( )ur son 



lo7 



Charles was born Februarx- 2Sth, iS66. We named him 
Charles Sumner. On the 22d da}- of March, 1866, I 
was granted a pension at the rate of $17 per month; 
even this small sum helped me out. I must say that 
the pension office has been much more liberal with 
many a man that was not wounded, and with some that 
never smelled powder in action. I draw the same pen- 
sion today, and likely will continue to draw it as long 
as I live. 

In the spring of 1867 I bought two lots on the 
northeast corner of Eleventh and D streets, southeast. 
The corner post of my lot was just one mile from the 
center of the Capitol in a straight line. 1 bought the 
lumber and built a modest house 16x32 feet. We 
moved into it as soon as the lower rooms were finished, 
to save rent. Before winter I had the chambers plas- 
tered. The next \'ear 1 added on the rear a kitchen, 
12 X 16, two stories, with a good cellar under it. 

I procured a patent on ni)- rotar}' steam engine, 
and made a ver)' nice working model which I exhibited 
in m\' office. Not long after this I started a shop to 
manufacture them. They proved tjuite a success up to 
three or four horse power. The)' would have proved a 
much greater success if I had made the wheels much 
larger in diameter. In 1870 I invented and patented a 
boiler that I called the "porcupine boiler." It was 
made of a piece of tube about six inches in diameter 
w ith small tubes sticking out all the way around, and 
about two-thirds up the large tube. This was placed 
in a sheet-iron casing. The fire was built under the 
tubes which were filled with water. This made the 



158 



most practical non-explosive boiler in existence, and is 
used to this da>- ver}- largelw Like most inventors I 
made little mone\- out of them, mostl\- for the reason 
that I did not have the capital to push them properly. 

One of the members of Congress with whom I was 
well acquainted was chairman of a sub-committee from 
the Committee on Commerce, before whom all appli- 
cants for the safet\- of passengers on steamboats had to 
come, requested mc to be present at their meetings, 
and to listen to the arguments of the inventors, and 
after adjournment to give the committee the benefit of 
my mechanical skill. I was also present at several 
meetings of the committee on naval affairs b\' request 
of the chairman. I am sure that I saved the govern- 
ment and ship-owners large sums of mone)-. The onl\' 
compensation I received was the associations antl a long 
walk home in the small hours of the night. 

One da\' about ten o'clock, while at work in m\- 
shop, in came Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase with 
.Senator Sprague. Mr. Chase had heard of my engine 
and wished to see it himself. 1 had one on a table 
with the casing off, with which I showed and explained 
the working parts. He was vcvy much interested in it 
on account of its simplicit}-. 1 also showed him a 
three-horse power I had running, driving m\ sliop. 
After showing him everything 1 could, 1 asked Iiim if 
he remembered a \oung man by the name of h'.dward 
P. Harris. "\'es," he said, "I knew him well, but what 
do \-ou know of him?" 1 answered, "He is mv father." 
Mr. Chase said, "We were in college together at Dart- 
nu)uth; lulward P. Harris was m\- cluini, and was one 

159 



of the greatest friends I ever had. There were three 
of us together most of the time; Jacob M. Colhmer, 
Edward P. Harris and myself. We were all poor young 
men trying to work our way through college the best 
way we could." Wc were all sitting on shop stools, 
and Mr. Chase began telling some of the pranks in 
which both himself and m\- father were engaged while 
students. I asked him if he remembered the time 
they took a jackass up in the second storx' of one of 
the buildings and tied him to the door of one of the 
professor's rooms; also, when they took a farmer's 
wagon apart one dark night and put it together on top 
of the ridge pole of his barn, because he would not 
give them a few apples that were rotting on the ground. 
He laughed heartily and said it did him good to bring 
back his boyhood days. Pulling out his watch he said, 
"Mr. Harris, vou have entertained the Chief Justice so 
well that he forgot time, and you have kept the Supreme 
Court waiting over an hour." He suggested that I 
make a note of it, saying, "\'ou are likel>' the onl>- man 
living that has that honor." He .said, "I am coming 
back soon and have this visit out." 

About this time my wife was taken sick with tu- 
bercular consumption. She suffered a great deal. 1 
procured the services of several of the best physicians 
in the city. She lingered until November 2d. 1871, 
when death came to her relief. At her request 1 took 
her back to Rochester, Mich., and laid her beside our 
little Frances. My mother had come to live with us in 
the summer of 1869. 1 had built ;in addition on the 
north side ol' our house so mother and ourseKes could 



ha\'c a bedroom on the ijj^round floor. It was a great 
comfort to my wife to have mother with her during her 
long sickness. 

During the summer of 1872 I became acquainted 
with Miss Sarah S. Ladd, who lived in Wilbraham, 
Mass. She was visiting her brother, Capt. James Ladd, 
who lived in Washington. Capt. Ladd and myself had 
been prisoners together in Macon, Savannah, Charles- 
ton and Camp Sorghum about six months in all. We 
were married at her home in Wilbraham on Christmas 
day of 1872. 

I became satisfied that Washington was no place 
to manufacture steam engines and boilers. I formed a 
partnership with a )'oung man who had mone)- to start 
in business in Chicago. I sold most of my machiner\- 
and packed up m\' patterns and small tools in the shop 
and shipped them to Chicago, and soon followed with 
our household effects. We arrived here on July 4th, 
1873. I soon had ni)- shop running and made several 
engines, all of small power. We sold all the boilers we 
could make in our shop, and at a large profit. After 
running about one year, my partner proved to be an\- 
thing but a straight-forward business man. He got the 
whole thing tied up in the courts. This threw me out 
of even a living. I could not do any hard work on 
account of my wounded shoulder. I had no mone\' to 
start in anj- business again. The ne.xt few )ears were 
hard ones for me financial 1\'. 

June 20th, 1874, we had an addition to our famil\- 
by the birth of a little girl baby. We named her 
Sarah Klizabeth. Jul\- 26tli, 1874, we moved to 1079 



West Polk street, between Western and Campbell 
avenues, to get cheaper rent. I started to make speed 
indicators in the house, using the small lathe I had 
made when only twelve )-ears old; earning a ver)' poor 
and precarious living. I made a full set of patterns 
for a small steam engine of three-inch stroke and one 
and a half inch bore; also two sets of governor patterns; 
one for one-eighth or one-quarter inch pipe, the other 
for three-eighth inch pipe, doing all the turning on my 
small lathe. I immediately took all the patterns to a 
foundr\' and had a few set of castings made from each; 
then advertised them in a small way. I had an un- 
precedented sale of them all, and at a good profit. 
This encouraged me and also enabled me to manufac- 
ture goods and tools in the amateur line that sold well. 
I was at my shop and store combined, earl)- and late, 
and worked as hard as I was able to. 

During this time my wife and self were living on 
so small a sum that if I should give the cost it would be 
considered a fish story. Hut this was the onl\- wa\' in 
which I coulci succeed in business. In the fall of 1877 
I received about $1,000 from m)' mother's estate which 
enabled me to enlarge my business and to take in new 
lines. 1 still continued to manufacture small tools at 
such times as I was not bus\' selling goods. We con- 
tinued to be \er\' economical in the house, aiul 1 used to 
be at ni)- store earl\- and late. 1 was fairly prosperous. 
Soon after this a scheming man who prt'tendetl to be a 
great Iric-nd of mine wanted to go into partni'rship 
with me. 1 was foolish enough to take him in. 1 ver}' 
quickl)- found out that he would soon have all the 

16;^ 



money and I only have the experience. He put into 
the compan)- about j54,ooo, and it cost me over ^12,000 
to get rid of him. It took me about five N^ears to pay- 
off this debt. I never could have done it had it not 
been that several of the large manufacturing firms east 
extended to me unlimited credit on my bare word, that 
1 would see the_\' lost nothing if worse came to worse 
with my old partner. The reason of this confidence 
was parti)' that I took my inventory and an abstract of 
my books and went east, showing m}- creditors exactl)' 
Iiow I stood. All expressed perfect satisfaction with 
my statement, and surprise at the small sum it cost for 
m\'self and famil\- to live. One of m\' largest credi- 
tors said he would stand by any man who would live on 
that small sum in order to pay his debts. I came home 
and went to work with a determination to come out on 
top. Before the last payment was due m\' old partner, 
1 had increased m\' stock at least three times, besides 
pa\ing all m\' creditors east, and was discounting all 
ni}' present bills. There were several things that helped 
me do this: first, my wife was very economical in our 
home and encouraged me all in her power; second, I 
knew ni}' business from A to Z; third, I worked hard, 
earl)' and late; fourth, m)' inventive genius and 
mechanical skill helped me wonderfull)-; I invented a 
good many new tools and articles to manufacture and 
sell; I made the patterns myself, both at my store at 
odd times and my house evenings, ni)- little lathe of 
boyhood days coming in good use; fifth, last but not 
least, was a full determination to win, and I did. 



IfiS 



During all these years I had been acti\e in church 
matters. I found there was no church or Sunda)- 
school within nearly a mile of a growing section of the 
cit)-. After two or three years' hard work I succeeded 
in getting the First Congregational Church to start a 
Sunday school in an old store. Not long after the}- 
sent students up to preach .Sunday evenings. The 
Sunday school and evening services outgrew their 
quarters in the old store. A new church was built on 
the corner of Polk street and Claremont avenue, named 
the "Covenant." I worked hard to get the church in- 
terested in young people, especiall}' in \ oung men; to 
establish a reading room, lecture room, have a work- 
shop with lathes, jig saws, etc.; in fact, to make the 
church more attractive to young men than the saloon 
I would have a printing press and type, and induce 
some of the boNS and young men, as well as the girls, 
to learn to set type and run the press. I would print 
cards and dodgers, and circulate them well, letting 
everybod}' know that we were interested in them, and 
especiall}- in the )-oung folks. I would ha\e one or 
more companies of bo}'s' brigades, also of girls' bri- 
gades. I would encourage socials, especially for }'Oung 
folks. Make the church interesting for young people 
and you will ha\'e a prosperous church. One live 
young person, with likel\- a long life of usefulness 
before him, is worlli a dozen old dead heads even if 
ihe\' ha\e more moncw The Covenant church, I think- 
without a (lisscnting\oice,sat down hard on all the above. 

During the summer of icSS^ I bought a \ery fine 
telescope, ha\ing an oljject glass of four and (jne-half 



mch aperature. The instrument was made by Warner 
& Swasew and the object glass by Professor Brassier 
I bought these parti}- for m\'self, but mostl\- for m\- 
children. I do not claim to be an astronomer in an\- 
sense of the word; I am onl\' an enthusiastic amateur, 
anxious to learn something of what the Almighty had 
created in the heavens, and also to interest my children 
in the same. M\' own interest in astronomy was started 
by m\- mother taking me out when a mere bo\- and 
showing me the different constellations. I said that if I 
lived I would have a good telescope. 1 have one, and 
use it for m}'self, m\- children and for other \oung 
people, to try and interest them in the higher things of 
this life. 

About this time I joined the Grand Ami}- of the 
Republic, and also joined the Order of the Lo\-al 
Legion, Commander}- of the State of Illinois. 

We lived in the same house that we moved into 
first on Polk street for si.xteen }-ears. In the spring of 
1889 I bought the house and lot two lots west of us. 
We fixed up this house so as to make a ver}- comfortable 
home. We li\-ed here until the fall of 1 893, or World's 
P'air }ear. In the fall of 1892 I bought 55 feet front 
b}' 144 feet deep, on the north side of Jackson boule- 
\ard, just west of Oakle}- avenue. I paid S8,ooo cash 
for the lot. In Jul}-, 1893, I broke ground and began 
to build the house and barn. This cost me about 
$18,000. It was finished complete from top to bot- 
tom, and we mo\ed into it about the 20th of November, 
1893. W'hen we moved into it I did not owe a dollar 
on the house or lot, neither did 1 owe an}' person one 

165 



cent. I could lie down and sleep well and enjo\- my 
new home, as it was all my own and every dollar of it 
earned honestly. In planning the new house I had a 
large hall in the third stor)% 20 x 30 feet, which I call 
my lecture hall. Over one-hundred persons can be 
seated comfortabl}' in it. I frequenth' have lectures on 
various subjects, and invite our neighbors, and espec- 
iall\' the \'oung people. The stairs in the rear of 
the house lead directly from the rear door to the hall 
without going through the front part of the house. 
I also have a large number of lantern slides; many of 
them are from photographs of the heavens. These 
I frequently throw up for young folks that come in to 
see us. I have been for \'ears greatly interested in 
young folks, firmly believing that in them lies the hope 
for future generations. I believe that when churches 
and temperance societies wake up to the importance of 
caring for the young, societ}' will be better off, and 
there will be a less number of prisons and far less 
inmates. 



END 



166 



INDEX 



Arrest, Placed under 
Army of Potomac 
Al^er, Col., Mean act of 
Ambusli 
Artillery, Kebcl 
Asliby, Maria . . 
Augusta, Ga. 
Adams, Capt. . . 
Annapolis 
Birtli 
Brother 

Birth of Children 
Barracics, Building 
Baldwin, Hon. A. C. .. 
Brooke, Mrs. 
Burlesque Questions . . 
Breastworks of Richmond 
Beef furnished 
Blood Hounds Killed 
Barse, Lieut . . 
Baldwin, Mrs. A. 0. 
Capture of Rebels 
Coward, A 
Custer, Geo. A. 
Copeland. Gen. 
Capturing Despatches 
Cordovi House 
Charge of First Michigan 
Cold New Year's Day, 1804 
Colored Guide 
Chandler, Senator 
Charging the Rebels . . 
Column Broken in Two 
Court-martial . . 
Charleston, S. C, . . 
Columbia, S. C. 
Cam)) Sorghum 
Carriage 



24. 28, 34, ;W, 4 
I 



21 

22 

21, 29, 70 

37 

71 

lO'l 

116 

.. 138 

148, 154 

5 

5 

SI 

10 

57 

i)6 

68 



61, 



114 
137 
141 
149 
15 
16 
3, 45 
3, 27 
26 
26 
34 
60 



70, 150 

75 

80 

84 

128, 145 

1.30, 153 

131 

139 



167 



Clark, Capt. 

Company A 

Charles S., born 

Committee 

Chase, Chief Justice . . 

Callimer, Jacob L. 

(.Uiicago 

('red! tors . . 

Church 

Death of First Born Child 

Detroit, (xoing to 

Dutcher, Lieut. 

Dodging a Shell 

Dana, Hon. C. A. . . 

Da vies. Gen. . . 

Dahlgren Raid 

Driggs, Hon. John F. .. 

I)ie(rame 

Davis, Jefferson 

Havis, Mrs. Jefferson 

Davis, Miss Winnie 

Davis, Mrs. A. P. 

Danville, Va. . . 

Diarrh(»'a at Macon 

Dean, Lieut. 

Davis, Rebel Lieut. 

Hug-outs 

Dinner 

Dance 

Discharge 

Drafts Destroyed 

Engineer 

Early, Gen. 

Escaping from Robs 

Examining Board 

Escape, Narrow 

F]sca])ing in Cart 

Englishmen 

Exchanged 

Father 

First Engagement 

Foraging .. 

Firing at Rebel Scout 

Foraging foi' Suijjier 

Feast, A 



141 

.. 141 
157 

.. 158 
159 
159 
160 

.. 161 
163 

.. 164 
10 
10 

i:? 

30 

41 

57, 67, 69 

71, 80 

70 

8(> 

96 

106 

110 

111 

115 

116 

116 

124, 125 

131 

134, 140 

. . 135 

155 

.. 152 

8 

25 

47 

67 

33, 83 

.. 120 

147 

.. 143 

5, 159 

13 

17 

19 

38 

51 



1«8 



Figlit at (Tieen's Farm 

Fired on 

Food Sent from North 

Flour Cure 

J^resli Fish 

Fox Neck 

(rettysburg, Battle oj 

(rould, Col. 

(iraj'. Col- 

German ia Ford 

(rrand Officer of tlie T);i 

Garcin, Mrs. 

Garcin, Mrs. Eddie 

Grant, Col. Fred L). 

Grant the Rebel Genei 

Green, Mrs. 

Green, Capt. 

Gibbs, Col. 

Guards Bought 

Griswold, Major 

(xrand Review 

(Jray, Capt. 

Horse Presented to me 

Hooker, Gen. . . 

Hunting for the Quarter-maste 

Hampton. Gen. Wade 

Helping Family Out of Danger 

Home, sent 

Hastings, Capt. 

Halted for Rest 

Hell Fire Men 

Hellish Act 

Hawkins, Col. 

Hospital 

Hog 

Hatch, Capt. . . 

Hotel 

Home Again . . 

House, Building a 

Hard up 

Home, Buying a . . 

Hall in House 

Hicidents on My Wa.\ 

I sham, Lieut. 

.Idluisdii, (Jen. 1!. T. 

.);icksori, Miss Fddic 



:}!». 



7R 

81 

114 

117 

lis 

fiO 
2:5 
TO 
42 



H,') 

its. 111 

10(1 

lot) 

12! 

ll.-) 

118, 124 

. . 124 

130 

142 

l.!)7 

10. \n 

10 
24 
.32 

:\: 

54 

,so 

81 

ii:? 
ii:{ 

122 

i:w 
i:!() 

145 
140 
152 
158 
102 
105 
100 

•55 
14!) 

S2 
102 



16U 



Kilpatiick, (Jen. . . 

K, Company 

Kellogfif, Hon. Wm. V. 

Learning a Trade 

Left Railroading . . 

Lawyers Read 

Lacy House 

Lee & Meade's Express 

Letting Me Down Easy 

Ladies, two 

Libljy Prison 

Ladies, Advertised for 

Lepers, Ten 

La Groon, Dr. 

Lincoln's Tlianl<sgiving I); 

Live to Get Home 

Lies 

Ladd. Miss Sarah . . 

Ladd. Capt. James O. 

Loyal Legion 

Ledyard, John P. 

Mother 

Milwaukee 

Married 

Mean Trick 

Michigan City 

Mad .. 

Murphy, Col. 

M inisters 

Macon, (Ja 

Maggot, largest 

Marion (ruards 

Man From Charlestnii 

Maltby, Capt. 

Mulford. Gen 

Norval Col Freeman 

Negro Guide Hung 

New York Herald 

New York Tril)une 

Nigger Hunter 

Ordered liack to Camp 

()ldChur<-li 

Ojjium Pills 

( )l1icer, loo vimny- . . 

Old h'lag ' .. 

( )iir Sleaiiiei' 



] 1 , 3n 

TO. 77 

151 

7 

8 

17 

45 

53 

55 

84 

87 

98 

111 

\:V2, 141 

139 

148 

151 

161 

161 

165 

8 

5, 160 

7, 8 

9, 161 

9 

t 

103 

112 

116 

121 

126 

141 

144 

147 

13 

72 

SO 

91 

137 

6(i 

S2 

116 

120 

147 

147 



Owe My Life 


14S 


Pennsylvania Cavalry, ITth 


i-2 


Promoted to First Lieutenant 


\:i 


Picket Firing 


57 


Prisoners 


71t 


Prisoner, taken 


82 


Poem, Soldier of 1864 


104 


Present to Mrs. (rarcin 


io;{ 


Parker, Lieut. 


130 


Pants 


1.34 


Parlor, in a . . 


ir,i 


Pension 


]58 


Partner 


Kil, 162 


Prosperity 


163 


Pennington, Lieut. 


2it 


Quartet of Singers 


ll!l 


Rotary Engine 


..6, 158 


Railroad Accident 


7 


Rochester, return to . . 


7 


Raising Company 


10 


Raid to Asliby"s (Jap 


13 


Roger's Family . . 


14 


Raid After Stuart 


U^ 


Retreat of Gen. Lee 


3i) 


Richmond, Col. 


41 


Released From Arrest 


42 


Rosser, Gen. . . 


45 


Raid to King George's C. H. 


46 


Return to Army 


56 


Richmond 


84 


Richmond Papers 


82 !)3 


Retreat of Col. Dahlgren 


80 


Richmond, taken to 


S4 


Rations at Libby Prison . . 


114 


Rebel Sergeant 


116 


Rations at Macon 


121 


Rebel Killed a Colored Hoy 


12!) 


Rations, none sent in 


138 


Rebel Prisoner 


153 


Railroad . 


1.".4 


Steam Engine 


6 


Sabre Presented to Me 


11 


Skirmish 


15 


Sutler's Pies 


16 


Scared 


20 


Seci'etary Stanton 


3!) 



in 



staff Duly 


49 


Sykes, (Jen. 


51 


Sick, taken 


5:] 


Sedden, J. A. 


72 


Sedden, Mrs 


74, 8i) 


Sedden, Mi>^s 


!)0, 111 


Surgeon at Libby Prison 


il2, 112 


Spies 


5<» 


Secretary of State 


.. 101 


Sanitarium 


111 


Sent Soutli 


115 


Seniple, Cai)t. 


118 


Savannah, (ra. 


.. 12H 


Swamp Aujj^el IJaltery 


128 


Sprague, Capt. 


.. 128 


Sliell 


128 


Saluda Factory 


133 


Slioes 


148 


Store . . 


.. 162 


Satie E. born 


161 


Towne, Col- 


34 


Turner, Major 


!»2 


Thank Me, Ileturn to . . 


.. Ill 


Telegrapliing Home 


152 


Telescope 


164 


Under Fire 


43 


Union Women 


..134 


\'ermont First Cavalry 


82 


Washington, going to 


11, 150, 157 


Wounded 


44, 76 


Whisky, IJottle of 


51 


Williams, Capt. 


83 


Waller C^apt. 


86, 103 


Watson, James 


88 


Wise, .lolin C. 


109 


Winder, Gen. 


114 


Winder, Capt. 


118, 124 


Wayne. Major 


127 


Whisky 


143 


Wound, X-ray of . . 


157 


Wife, my 


157, 1(11 


Windham, (ion. 


16 


Young. Capl. 


8(; 


^'ellovv l''evci' 


i:!2 


■N'ankee liiscuils 


140 


Young h'olks 


l(i4 



17a 






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